Tumgik
#ive watched it a thousand times and its still GOLDEN
perdumaisreveuse · 11 months
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i think Crush is genuinely my favorite rom-com ever
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Some of you have probably noticed that I havent made a liveblog post in a while. Well, thats because I usually read on the bus and during my classes and then I come home and summarize my thoughts on the 2-5 chapters I read after theyve marinated in my head for a little while, but unfortunately i appear to be incapacited at the moment so I cant do that. But because its been weeks and I dont wanna forget anything and I would very much like to finish this series soon, I'll try to read at home sometimes from now on. Since my brain is still a lil mush Im gonna do what I did for my last post, which is write down what Im thinking as Im reading instead of summarizing all my thoughts retroactively, except this time I have my german copy on hand so if I want to quote something it'll be a translation
Anyway, with all that said, welcome to my twisted mind, please enjoy my thoughts on A Court of Mist and Fury Chapters 40
Chapter 40
Ive been wanting to say this for a while now but i kept forgetting, but they translated 'winnowing' as 'den Wind spalten' ['splitting the wind'] and that is objectively so much cooler, shoutout to my gal Alexandra Ernst for that
Feyre being like "ugh, its so pathetic how these human guards think they could stand a chance against even one of us" hurts me so much you guys what have they done to my girl
Once again, its apparently perfectly fine if Rhysand doesnt tell Feyre anything "because she never asked" but if Tamlin doesnt tell her anything when she never asked hes the devil
Also once again, Feyre is perfectly not-triggered at Mor wearing a scarlet dress
Idk how to explain this, but Rhysand saying that Feyre is wearing a golden crown because "she looks so good with it, how could he not give her one" is somehow the perfect encapsulation of the hollowness of her High Lady title
Oh, of course three of the queens only showed up to watch the other two talk, itd be too hard to write dialogue if they actually participated in this important conversation
hello???? Feyre referring to humans as "your kind" ??? wth is going on
"every side bears some blame" hey rhysand ive got a question for ya. which side enslaved the other again
everytime the oldest queen does anything the prose feels the need to remind me of how old and wrinkly she is and its like, i get it, shes OLD
The oldest queen is spitting so hard rn, Im not even gonna question how they heard of the night court when Feyre, who lived closest to Prythian for many years, didnt know anything aout the individual courts prior to getting there herself, Im just gonna put her whole little monologue here: "Oh? [...] The High Lord of the Night Court asks that we join him so that we can save lives together? Fight for peace? And what about the lives that you have taken during your long, despicable existance? What about the High Lord who shrouds himself in darkness and destroys the mind of those who stand in his way? [...] We have heard of you on the continent, Rhysand. We have heard of what the Court of Night is capable of, what you do to your enemies. Peace? I wouldn't have thought that you - a man who enslaves the minds of others and kills them out of pure enjoyment - even know that word."
Anyway, she was spitting absolute bars and Feyre gets super mad about it and almost commits arson but manages to reign herself in and its like girlie, why are you so upset? one of the first things we find out about the night court in this book is that they apparently indiscriminately kill (or atleast torture) anyone who crosses the night court border without permission like theyre the fucking us government, i think the bad reputation is justified
Forgive me if I sound callous, but I have absolutely no sympathy for Rhysand flinching at the mention of Amarantha when Feyre didnt even use her name and is also talking about how she fucking DIED AT HER HANDS
God, I feel like I have something to say about every single line this post is gonna be like 10 thousand words long by the time Im done
So lets take it from the top; Feyre tries to convince the mortal queens to give them the half of the book by recounting to them how much everyone suffered under Amarantha and how she was gruesomely beaten to death and then revived, which is not a compelling argument to me, who actually witnessed all of that, much less these queens who have barely any context for anything shes saying right now
The oldest queen is like "you dont know anything about anything" which is true what the fuck does Feyre know about whats going on in the human world or even the fae world at large, and then Rhysand growls "dont you dare talk down to her!!" because shes passionate and speaking from the heart or whatever and its like, okay, shes still not good at politicking or even just basic negatioation and shes talking to a seasoned politician who old as fuck
Like, if Feyre was actually smart, she wouldve long since realized that she couldnt convince these queens to protect this little slip of land right up to prythians border and been like "okay, you dont wanna protect the land, but can you atleast organize an evacuation so you can atleast save the people" Sure, they definitely still wouldnt have agreed to that because its a sjm book and theyre written to be comically evil, but it would atleast demonstrate Feyre being a little savvy, because right now all we're getting is her being stupid and stubborn in a situation where she really cant afford that
god, im just now noticing how pissed off I am, its been bleeding into my commentary and its not gonna stop, Im sorry. wait no, if youre reading this youre probably looking for negativity, so youre welcome, actually
Anyway, Rhys also says that Feyre is a kindhearted soul looking out for people who cant defend themselves even though she definitely thought that those human guards were pathetic for wanting to defend themselves when she and the other fae were soooooo much more powerful and he definitely knows that because the mental bond is fully open during this meeting and he chastises the queens for being selfish and cowardly when its like, my brother in christ you are doing the exact same bullshit, but atleast the queens are defending a wholeass continent while hes defending one (1) city. and iirc that city ends up getting attacked and destroyed anyway so good job my guy
Theres something so oddly biblical about the story Mor is telling about Miriam, down to her name being Miriam
That island thats removed from time is such bullshit istg
Is it just me or have these bozos not actually explained what they even need the other half of the book for. theyre just like "we need to stop this war and we'd like peace between humans and fae" and its like cool, hows the book gonna help with that though
im sorry, feyre wants to punch that old woman in the face????
the chapter ends with Elain being like "I hope they burn in hell" and i get that, they just straight up said that they want to abandon a whole bunch of people (them included) to die if a war breaks out, but you cant say that the night court girlies are not also at fault for being so fucking bad at politics
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acaciapines · 11 months
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nano day eight
words today: 1503
words total: 15933
a bit less today because i actually wrote 1.3k for another creative project of mine jkfgdfg. and i got to a good stopping point here so i figured i'd just write the scene ive been so excited for all in one go tomorrow.
its just so WEIRD, to be here, yall. like, ive written some Monsters in my time, some massive fics that are in the hundreds of thousands of words, but this is longer than all of them. ive been writing it for like, over a year and a half now, and im almost DONE. im in end-game stuff ive been planning for so long, and its just...
wild, i guess. its always hardest to write the final arc, i think--i want, so badly, to do it well.
my favorite part of what i wrote today:
They whimper, the sound slipping out, and behind them King groggily lifts his head. “Collector?” King’s stardust moves sluggish as he shakes himself, creeps to the edge of his bed, and when they look back his head is tilted and his eyes so much like theirs are wide. “Did you—gah!” He jumps back, tail puffy. “You cut yourself! You’re bleeding!” “Don’t got blood.” They scrub their hand across the front of their shirt and wince at the way the fabric catches against the torn edges of their skin. “I’m fine.” “Clearly you aren’t,” King says, and his muzzle rests atop their head as he peers down at them, flattening their hat and hair. Their chest pounds like a heart, erratic. “Um, do you have any bandages? That’s what Eda always did when I got hurt.” “Not,” they say, shoving themself up, and King topples backwards onto his bed, and they tower over him ‘n float a bit higher, and under the glow of the light glyph their shadow cuts across him ‘n isn’t them, ‘cause they’re here and real and REAL and their hand aches still and REAL ‘cause shadows can’t feel that, and they squeeze the wound ‘n watch golden stuff drip onto the floor, “hurt. Don’t need help.” “Okay!” King puts up his hands as he stands, not meeting their eyes. Instead King looks to a point just to their side ‘n it makes something in them burn; burn sharp. “You’re fine. Sorry.”
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shroomi1e · 2 years
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it's always been you (zhongli x gn!reader) (reincarnation au)
summary: it doesn't matter to him which 'you' you are, as long as it's still you.
cw: mentions of death
a/n: IM SORRY I HAVENT POSTED IN A WHILE! ive just been very lazy busy these days :)
· · ───────────── ·𖥸· ────────────── · ·
As a former archon, Zhongli isn’t unfamiliar with death. Being at least thousands of years old, the mortal life span is nothing but short to him. And after becoming the advisor for the funeral parlor, he only realizes even further just how fragile human lives are. Because of this, he’s learned to not hold on too tightly, but instead enjoy things as they are and let them move on as they are.
But this time it hurt more. A lot more than it should’ve.
Did he hold on too tightly? He wonders to himself as he holds his umbrella over his head, watching the rain pat against your wooden coffin. He moves his umbrella forward to shield you from the rain one last time, not minding that his suit is getting soaked. His heart clenches as he watches your coffin lower into your grave, signifying the last goodbye. You’re gone for good.
“Look at that one, Zhongli! It’s shaped like a mora!”
Zhongli pretends to pay attention, but he’s really only looking at your bright smile as you watch the Lantern Rite fireworks. You giggle as you lean your head against his shoulder, letting his warmth embrace you. Zhongli gently grabs one of your hands and intertwines your fingers with his, grasping tightly before reaching into his pocket to pull out a delicate jade ring. He loosens his fingers from yours to slide the ring onto your finger.
“I...hope you don’t mind,” he says, carefully watching your reaction. Your eyes are wide with surprise, darting between the ring and his face. The brilliant fireworks continue to go off in the sky, but the only thing Zhongli sees and hears is you. His golden amber eyes gaze into yours, his thumb rubbing your hand soothingly.
“Not even the most flowery poems or the greatest storytellers could put my love for you into words. Love is indeed the biggest contract of all, and I’m willing to commit my everything towards it. Are you willing to do the same?”
“Zhongli, you know better than anyone about our differences. I...I can’t be there for you forever. Are you sure you want to stay with me?”
He merely smiles and takes your hand in his once again. “You don’t owe me anything. Even if you won’t always be there for me, I can at least always be there for you. And that’s enough for me.”
Would you have had a wedding by now? Or perhaps the two of you would’ve settled into a house already? Zhongli tries his best to shake those thoughts away, only finding them hurtful due to his loss. He supposed he should’ve expected this, but... couldn’t you have left at least a bit later?
Years pass. The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is now in its 78th generation, and the city of Liyue has changed quite a bit. Though Zhongli remains unchanged, his calm and neutral persona is shattered when he sees your figure walk through the door.
He recalls both his knowledge from his archon days as well as the things that Hutao has taught him, but he can’t help but remain still in shock as he watches you, living and breathing, greeting him as if you've never met him before. Out of all the people to be cursed in the loop of reincarnation...why did it have to be you?
“Ah, you must be the renown Zhongli!” you greet. Your voice is still the same, clear as it was before. Zhongli can’t help but be flustered after hearing you call his name once more, his heart beating erratically at the sight of you.
“Y-Yes, that would be me. I assume you are the new owner of the funeral parlor. A pleasure to be working with you.”
And so from there on, he begins to fall in love with you all over again, and so do you. Zhongli takes you to the same places he took you before, telling the same stories in hopes you’ll like them just as much as you used to. Your soft giggles, surprised gasps, and playful jokes... his heart can’t help but ache at the memories of the past you, the first you that he fell in love with.
He patiently listens to your rambles and stories as if it’s the first time he’s heard them, letting out quiet chuckles at your jokes. He asks your favorites despite knowing the answers, buys you the gifts that he wasn’t able to buy you the first time, and even begins to carry his wallet with him a bit more.
But as all humans do... you leave, once again. It’s the same as before, rain pouring down as Zhongli gazes upon your wooden coffin, an umbrella in hand. He can’t tell if this hurts more or less. On one hand, he knows he’ll see you again, but one part of him is afraid he’ll eventually forget you, his memories eroded and gone in a snap of a finger.
And yet this continues for centuries.
Zhongli awaits nothing more than to see your smile again, to see you walking around Liyue harbor once more. And without even trying, the two of you seem to fall in love again and again, almost as if it was fate. You always find your way back to him, whether it be as a stall owner, treasure hoarder, or member of the Liyue Qixing. You always manage to stumble into his embrace and fall into his love.
And Zhongli doesn’t care how many times he’ll have to introduce himself, how many times he’ll retell his stories, how many times he’ll take you to see the fireworks, or how many times he has to bid you farewell. It doesn’t matter which ‘you’ you are, as long as it’s you.
In this ever-changing world, where nothing can last forever... you are his one and only constant. The one thing that will never erode from his memories, and the one person he will always love and care for, no matter how many times you part ways with him.
It’s always been you.
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desired-victim · 3 years
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Helloo! I wanted to request hisoka with corruption kink. Just write however you want to lolol i dont mind any freaky🏃
Ha *wipes sweat off forehead* I hope this hard work pays off. I put every ounce of effort in writing this 😮‍💨. I didn’t do any bullet points on this one but it does have about four thousand words! Please ignore the possible grammar mistakes, I do have trouble writing dialogue. I worked on yours all night long and I’m exhausted. My fingers sure are. I kept your request deeply in mind. You can see poor, little (Y/N)’s innocence melt right off her like ice cream ;). Anyway, here’s your request, my love 💕
I wanted to honor the divine feminine so you will see my appreciation for the female body below 👇
💕TW: The content below contains: degradation, domination kink, submission kink, dub con, threat of forced anal intercourse, pure smut, corruption kink, possible bad grammar, loss of virginity, dirty talk, cunnilingus, vaginal sex, corruption of innocence, Oh, and Hisoka is a TW itself.
Enjoy…
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He’s tall.
God, he is so tall. Such long, strong legs - slender yet thick with muscle. Despite being erotically pleasant, his legs weren’t the best part of him. The best part of him was what your eyes followed. From his shins, to his knees, to his thighs, to his hips, to that beautifully sculpted torso of his, to his neck, and then you reached his eyes.
Those eyes. Those sharp, golden eyes of his.
His eyes unsettled most people. It was as though they could pierce your very soul, and see how weak and worthless you truly are. He's a predator - always keen, always aware, and always watching for a reason for you to be his next target.
Hisoka… how did you get those eyes?
She wondered how she caught his attention. He was the type of man to overlook girls like her. A blushing, doe eyed dolt, who could barely speak to strangers without stuttering a storm.
Why? Why would someone like Hisoka find her worthy of even being near him? Of being in his bed, of being by his side, of being between his legs. He is so very special, and I'm…
“My Little Slice, you look delightful when your down there~”
His voice shook her out of her thoughts. She looked at his teasing gaze and meekly lowered her sight to his lips. There, she saw them curl up into a grin. She tensed up and covered her naked chest with her arms. Just then, she realized how unbelievably exposed she was to his scrutiny.
“Oh, nervous now~,” he laughed out, sitting up from the headboard and closer to her face, “isn’t that sweet…”
More red than ever, she turned her face from Hisoka and leaned back. Instead of letting her move away, his hand wrapped around her wrist and thrusted her towards him. She yelped out as her cheek pressed against his hard chest, her face embarrassingly hotter than his cool skin. His chest rumbled as he let out a chuckle.
She put her hands against his chest and attempted to pull away, but his arm wrapped itself around her. She struggled to shove herself away and her efforts were all for nothing; he hadn’t moved an inch.
Perhaps it was foolish to pursue a 200th floor fighter. Where was her older brother to protect her now? He had lectured her beforehand about the dangerous people here and she laughed him off and teased him about being some sort of guard dog. Now, she needed him more than ever. She had never been in a situation like this before.
“No boys allowed, Y/N!” he usually shouted out, a vein practically popping out of his forehead. It almost seemed like he loved saying that as it was repeated over and over throughout her life.
All she wanted to do was explore a place she never ventured to. To seek the thrill that felt so curious and good, yet hidden like the inside of a flower that hasn't bloomed yet. A buzzing heartbeat that formed when she laid alone at night and gently ran her fingers up her skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps and shivers.
Please help me, B/N…
Her struggles came to an end as she huffed, breathlessly. Hisoka’s hand trailed down her shoulders to her waist and to her hips. His hand was met with the pleasant plumpness of her bottom. She squeaked out in shock as his hand roughly squeezed her ass and kneaded it like dough. A loud crack reverated across the room as he slapped it, leaving a red blur behind. She gasped and her face converted into an embarrassed cringe. Frustrated tears pricked in her eyes as her fingernails dug deeply into his skin.
Once again, she attempted to wiggle away. Instead of his arm wrapping around her shoulders once again, she was swept over and under him. He was hovering over her and there was no way to escape. Her previous attempts at fighting back were a failure, and she no longer wanted to fight, only to flee.
Her eyes shot out towards Hisoka’s face only to find him smiling down at her. His warm breath fanning her face and his hips between her thighs.
The glint in his eyes shook her to the core. His facial expression was teasing and playful, but his eyes told a completely different story. She’s seen that look on his face before. The same expression on his face as he killed his opponents. He looked like an apex predator who was about to break the neck of his prey with his jaws.
“You’ve never been fucked before, haven’t you?” he asked, his finger trailing down her cheek, rubbing off a tear she hadn’t noticed fell.
Her face scrunched up at his vulgar language.
“No, I’ve never been f-“ she paused, hesitating before quickly spitting out, “no, ive never been f… fucked before.” Another tear came out of her eye. She never cursed - She wasn’t allowed to.
Hisoka giggled, his smile twisting even further. He looked down at her precious expression and felt his arousal rise.
“You're utterly adorable, you know that? I almost feel a little bad about this. Almost. But you wanted to play, and don’t be a spoiled brat when the other player is better at the game than you.” He mocked, his sardonic gaze on her. It made her want to shrink into the mattress and never come out.
“Now, now,” he said, sitting up, “I’ll make it as comfortable as I can.”
He spread her thighs and examined her high waisted shorts. He grabbed the zipper at the top and unzipped it. Down and down it went, until her underwear was revealed to him.
“After all, the first cut into the cake has to be perfect.”
Her shorts were suddenly off her and on the ground. She was only in her underwear now, more exposed than ever. Most naked she’d been since that time she went to the beach. She’d gotten sunburnt that day. At least then she had a top, now her whole body was on display to him.
Hisoka hummed as he tugged his own bottoms off, revealing the thick length of his cock. His cock looked magnificent combined with the rest of his body. That sexy v-cut of his looked like two arrows directing me to look at his big dick, so large it almost dangled under its own weight. It held its own though, refusing to droop over.
How is that thing going to fit inside of me? she thought.
He spread her legs wide open and examined the thin material of her underwear as the form of her vulva showed through. The flimsy material was practically invisible.
Hisoka’s big hands grabbed her behind her knees, pushing her legs up while also spreading them even further. The bed squeaked out as Hisoka crawled on his knees over to her, placing himself over her.
Hisoka’s claws clenched themselves around her legs, indenting the soft flesh, “You have such a soft, innocent face,” he said, his face hovering over menacingly. “But I know a hungry little whore lies beneath the surface… let me feed that little whore~❤️.”
Hisoka let go of one of her legs and let it fall against the bed. Her loose leg was between his two thighs and her other leg was still being held. The top half of her body was still on the bed. Hisoka’s strength was maintained as he carried half of her body weight into the air.
He’s so strong… of course he is, that’s to be expected of a top floor fighter.
The bed let out a groan as Hisoka pushed himself onto her covered cunt, rubbing his dick between her labia majora. His cock stroked the sensitive heat over and over again, he could feel her hotness tightening and then softening as her pussy throbbed to the beat of her heartbeat. The head of his cock stroked her hard clit over and over again, the little bump riddled with sensitive nerves. Her underwear was sopping as her pussy leaked out sweet nectar. The tip of Hisoka’s cock was also leaking with precum, mixing in with her own sweetness and creating an erotic cocktail.
“Yes, don’t stop,” she begged. “Please don’t stop - I want to cum so bad. Please let me cum, please!”
Hisoka let out a breathy laugh. “If you want to cum so bad, you need to beg for it. Only good girls get to cum. Are you a good girl~?”
“Yes! I’m a good girl! I’m your good girl, Hisoka!”
“Aw, you're so cute when you beg. But I don’t think you're a good girl. No, I think you're a naughty, little slut. Little sluts only get to cum when they're being fucked.”
The sensitive head of Hisoka’s cock pulsated with pleasure as he rubbed it against the soaked underwear. If he kept doing it, he was going to cum way too fast. He couldn’t let that happen. Not before he stretched her virgin pussy with his cock. He’d be damned if he let himself orgasm before biting into her innocence.
His nails dug into her thigh as he pushed himself further into her, making sure there wasn’t an inch of space between their heats. He was going to blow and If he didn’t stop, he wasn’t gonna see that shocked expression of hers when came in her for the first time. The longer he waited, the better.
(Y/N)’s pussy clenched and her breathing sped up. She was going to cum.
I’m going to cum, I’m going to cum, I’m going to cum, I’m going to-
Hisoka pulled back.
“No!” She yelled, kicking her leg in frustration. She let out another yell as her leg didn’t even move an inch in Hisoka’s grip. His grip was too strong. There was no way she could force her way to freedom.
“I was so close!” she shouted, a tear threatening to fall from her eyes. “Why did you stop! I felt so good!”
Hisoka threw his head back and let out a loud, sadistic laugh.
“Haha, you're so cute when you're feisty! I’m glad I’m the first who gets to fuck you.”
He let go of her leg after getting over his giggling attack. She found herself embarrassed as she blew out strings of her own hair out of her own mouth.
As she was pulling strings of hair out of her mouth, she was suddenly pulled back onto the bed by Hisoka’s hands around her hips. She gulped as she saw Hisoka’s face hovering over her crotch.
The part of her underwear that directly covered over her cunt was a darker shade than the rest of her underwear from when they grounded against each other like animals in heat.
She watched nervously as he adjusted his position. She let out a whole body shiver as both of his thumbs opened her lips like a little book.
Hisoka licked the side of her cunt - not directly stimulating her but gently teasing her. While not directly pleasuring her, the motion relaxed her from her last intense session. A little between-the-main-courses snack, if you will.
She sat up on her elbows and watched as Hisoka lapped at both sides of her lips. She felt a swell of affection begin to grow in her chest as she watched Hisoka’s cheek press itself onto the inside of her thigh. She realized how bold she’s gotten since they began to play with each other. In such a short while, Hisoka had corrupted her - denting that once-perfect surface with his perverted nature. To think ten minutes ago she was so shy she could barely even curse. In such a short time, she’d cursed more than she had in a year. A pang of guilt filled her as she thought about how her older brother would react. But he wasn’t here, and he never had to know.
In her own thoughts, she didn’t notice Hisoka’s face twist into a mischievous smile. Her eyes widened in terror as she felt his tongue on her covered asshole.
“Hisoka!” She shouted out.
How can someone be so vulgar?
“Oh, I’m sorry, my Little Slice~. I just love it when your sweet, angelic face turns into one of horror. It turn me on so badly~❤️”
Hisoka only smiled and slid his tongue upwards towards her pussy. He pushed the tip of his tongue against the entrance of her vagina and wiggled it there. If it wasn’t for her underwear, his tongue would have been inside her pussy.
The nerves around her hole were ablaze and her legs were shaking - with fear, excitement or pleasure? Perhaps all three, she did not know. All she wanted was to be pounded by him; she didn’t care how big and thick he was (from what she saw earlier, his cock had to be as thick as her forearm). Though she was unexperienced and naive to the acts of sex, this feeling was primal and indispensable. She needed it, she needed it like a runner needs water.
His tongue dragged itself from her entrance to her clit.
“Yes, yes,” she moaned out and spread her legs wider without an ounce of shame.
It was overwhelming in the best way possible. It was the most electrifying thing she’d ever experienced and she never wanted it to end. She wanted to be there forever - in that limbo of titillation and erotic reality that was unlike anything she could recreate with her imagination.
Hisoka rapidly moved his tongue against her clit. She squealed out loud and attempted to move her hips but his hands grabbed her hips and pushed them to the bed and continued to flick her covered clit with his tongue.
She lifted herself up to her elbows and looked down at him. A hint of fear aroused in her as she made direct eye contact with him. She was so caught up in her own pleasure she didn’t realize how deeply she was looking into his eyes.
As she continued to lock her eyes with his, her pussy began to relax, getting ready to tighten and cum on his tongue. Her heavy breathing paused and she caught that expression in her eyes.
Then her panties were ripped in half and her bare cunt was revealed to him. In a split second, his entire tongue was inside of her.
She screamed as her virgin cunny squeezed itself around his long, wicked tongue. Hisoka laughed out and wiggled his tongue - messaging and caressing her inner walls as she cummed.
The wetness of her aroused cunt seeped out and dripped down to her asshole, to which Hisoka slurped up and continued his assault on her cunny again. He did this over and over again until I couldn’t handle it anymore. My hands tried to push him away but he didn’t even budge. It wasn’t until my legs began to kick out in panic did he pull away.
“Ah, ah,” she panted, body completely limp. Hisoka observed her body. Her soft stomach was gleaming with sweat and the inside of her thighs were also gleaming.
“You might be the sweetest candy I’ve had since I first tried Bungee Gum all those years ago. I knew the moment I popped it into my mouth it would never leave me, marking me with its sweet syrupy taste just like a Scarlet Letter. Would it be a bold thing to say that you're just like Bungee Gum? You get so pink when you're played with. The pink on your cheeks is almost the same shade as my favorite snack.”
Hisoka let out a sudden dramatic sigh that startled (Y/N) for a second. “Unfortunately, the company who used to make Bungee Gum went bankrupt so now I have to search far and wide just to get a taste. Luckily for me, something similar is always nearby for me to stretch and pull at.”
He paused, looking directly into (Y/N)’s eyes with his own yellow ones. “You are, my sweet little slice~”
Hisoka grabbed her ankles and slapped her legs together. The loud smack of her thighs' sudden connection reverated across the room.
Hisoka wrapped his big hand over both of her ankles and grabbed his cock, stroking back the foreskin to reveal the pink, sensitive tip and a pearl of precum forming. He placed the tip of his cock on her clit, rubbing it in little circles before sliding it down her slit until it reached her entrance at the very bottom. He felt tempted to slip it into her ass before deciding it wasn’t worth the screeching. Even though he could easily cover her mouth and sodomize her tight little ass, he couldn’t just jump into completely breaking her; It would be a better idea to slowly lower her into the fire. A slow burn would be ten times more satisfying.
Putting both of my legs onto one side of his shoulders, he used his weight to push his entire cock into her pussy until his ballsack was resting against her ass.
She hissed through her teeth and threw her head back. She was filled with his cock. So full. So, so full.
She was bursting with new sensations. A new type of pain, a new type of pleasure. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt yet so primal and familiar. It was an instinct she never realized she had.
Bending over her with her legs still on her shoulder, Hisoka connected their lips for the first time that night. She could taste her own saltiness on his lips. It wasn’t the type of kiss she’d seen on romance shows (the ones her brother decided were appropriate enough to watch). No, this kiss was the complete opposite of those. This kiss was rough, unlike anything else.
She felt a burst of bravery as she slipped her tongue out and shyly lapped at his bottom lip. Hisoka let out a sardonic chuckle.
“Feeling brave now, are we?”
(Y/N) yelped as Hisoka slid his entire tongue inside her mouth, licking every corner of her mouth. Nothing was left untouched.
After completely violating her mouth with his tongue, Hisoka pulled away, smiling down at her.
“Are you ready?” He whispered. (Y/N) let out a shuddering breath and nodded. She braced herself by meekly grabbing onto the shoulder that didn’t have her legs with one hand, the other gripping onto the sheets.
Hisoka pulled back until only the tip of his cock remained in her, then he slammed into her with great strength. Her breath completely left her body with the slam of his hips. His hips smashing against her buttocks made a filthy sound that made her want to cum. The plop, plop sound that her pussy was also doing things to her.
Hisoka grunted with every hard thrust. She fit him just like a glove. It was almost like she was made for him. While the male penis did not have as many nerve endings as female genitals, a man can augment his sensations and cause it to heighten by being caressed just right. By holding her against himself, fucking her in a salacious dance, the more sensation builds up in his penis just like when a woman’s clitoris is tapped just so…
The friction of his cock pulling on her inner walls before being pushed inside once again left (Y/N) in a concoction of emotions. First, complete and utter pleasure. As he slammed his cock into her, dopamine bursted in her mind like an explosion of drugs. Second, regret. If her brother ever found out, how would he react to his own little sister getting fucked by the murderous Magician, Hisoka? She knew he’d feel like all his work to keep her safe were a waste of time and energy. Like all those years of pampering and protecting went right down the drain. She couldn’t let him find out. And thirdly, a rebellious energy. She was tired of being locked down by her own innocence. She wanted to explore the world. There had to be more to this world than just what she knew. There had to be.
From head to toe, she felt a symphony of pleasure as she came. Her toes clenched until they cramped. But she didn’t care, the pleasure outweighed the pain. Her fingers dug into his shoulder. She was sure there would be a five fingered mark there the next day. It would be a reminder of his clawed reach and her deflowering.
She screeched out as Hisoka went faster, overwhelming her. She hadn’t even gotten over her orgasm before he began to thrust into her twice as hard. She could feel his cock rub itself against the entrance of her womb.
It was primal to push into her beautiful, soft female body and pull back, only to push himself back. He could feel himself building up the height of his pleasure. The more he pumped, the higher the tower built, just ready to topple over and leave a big mess.
He looked at her closer than ever. Watching as her breast bounced and her lips glowed from their mixed saliva. He saw her eyes as she looked up at him, red from crying in complete pleasure. Her appearance increased his desire to come.
“Ahhhh,” he moaned out, feeling his orgasm in his very bones. It was a sensation he was familiar with. After defeating a powerful enemy, he sometimes glowed with the aftertaste of their fight and his victory. This was very similar - yet so different. More intimate, of course. His prey was still alive and he was still inside their body.
(Y/N) closed her eyes in bliss as Hisoka’s cum finally rested inside of her. Her breathing slowed down and the blush on her cheeks faded into softer shades of pink. The sun was coming down. Its orange tones highlighted her sweaty body like a canvas. It almost seemed like she was a freshly painted portrait. Divine Feminine tamed at last.
Both of them laid on their backs, observing the plain ceiling. It was relaxing to lay down after such an exhausting task. All she wanted to do was shut her eyes and rest.
Rest, rest, rest…
My brother! His fight is over!
(Y/N) shot up from the bed, practically tripping over herself as she gathered her things - putting them on. She didn’t even notice her bra was inside-out. More shockingly, she didn’t even notice cum was dripping down her legs.
Hisoka watched amusingly from the sidelines at her scattering around the room.
(Y/N) scanned the room for one final time. She groaned as she saw her wet panties on the bed, right next to Hisoka. She jumped onto the bed and reached for her underwear. As she pulled back, Hisoka grabbed her wrist.
“Tell me, (Y/N), how would your older brother react to hearing about how I ruined his little sister's innocence? How I fucked her and she enjoyed every second of it? I bet he’d try to kill me~.”
(Y/N)’s mouth opened and closed, not a single word leaving her starstruck mouth. Her body was paralyzed with fear. She forgot who she was dealing with in her panic.
“What's the matter? You want to keep our little secret just between us two? Fine. However, come to my room tomorrow at the same time you did today and we’ll have some more fun. If not…”
She didn’t need to ask - She knew. She imagined the consequences in her mind, thinking about the outcome of her moment of weakness.
Hisoka wasn’t done with her; this was just the appetizer.
—-
“Hey, (Y/N), where were you during my fight? I didn’t see you in the crowd at all.”
“Oh, I was just getting some snacks.”
“Ah, alright. Next time just tell me beforehand. I wouldn’t want a stranger taking advantage of my little sister. Right, sis?”
“Haha, yeah…”
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mmollymercury · 2 years
Note
Character ask game: Bruno
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BRUNITO!! HERE WE GO BABYYYY
⚧ - Pronoun hc: he/him.
🏳️‍⚧️- Gender hc: a cissy male,, but I also like the hc that he's trans (AFAB)💖
🏳️‍🌈- Orientation hc: asexual aromatic 😭✊
🌌- zodiac sign hc: I think the triplets were all born on October 17th, the start of the thousand day's war. So he's a Libra ♎💖💖
🧠- MBTI/Enneagram hc: legit had to google this, its that personality test with all the funky letters... honestly its too complex for my little brain and I think Bruno would say the same, he'd probably say something like: I don't know! Urm... I guess I have average personality *awkward smile*
❤- OTP hc: Bruno & himself 🥰🫂🫂
🧡- Everyone I ship with this character: ...😶
💛- Brotp: the FAB trio! Otherwise known as: Bruno, Félix and Agustín 🥰
💚- Notp: just... basically anything that's romantic 😭
💙- Crossover ship: Bruno and the onceler- jk NOONE-
💜- Crossover non-ship relationship I like: I'm not really big into crossovers (excluding Roger Rabbit, of course🐰) but I've seen some cute art of Bruno and Hector from coco interacting, so them🥰
📖- AU I'd like to see them in: Love me a good modern AU. I always smile at the idea of Bruno watching ratatouille after coming out the walls and being absolutely GLUED to the TV😭😭
❤🩹- Angsty hc: I love projecting onto my favourite characters, so Bruno has: OCD (this was basically confirmed so YAY! SO HAPPY 🥰🥰), that can be debilitating; an eating disorder, heart palpitations and a tendency to self harm. I mean, he hits his head as a compulsion, as someone who does that too, I can confirm that it is a form of self punishment. Yeah, not fun. And... come on, he was bullied in school, look at him-
💖- Happy hc: HAPPY THINGS! Bruno is an artist, fight me, he excelled at all the creative subjects in school. Hes best uncle😤😤😤 hes like the fun, doesn't shout, laid back uncle and all the kids love him. He loves his little rat babies and coddles them to an insane degree, to the point where Pepa and Julieta are like: are we bad parents/ hj-
😋- Funny/stupid hc: He can be very agile at the weirdest times but hellishly clumsily the rest of the time, I have an image in my head THAT IVE WANTED TO DRAW FOR THE LONGEST TIME, of when he was still the 🌟golden child🌟 and gave an amazingly good vision to this guy, Alma wanted to capture the moment in a picture: so she stands behind him, looking proud, hands on his shoulders, he's smiling all big while holding up the vision and the guy who got it, is standing next to him with a thumbs up... but Bruno’s teeth are like FUCKED UP because a few weeks previously he went flying into a wall and several of them fell out-
🪞- Appearance hc: not sure what to say since we all know what this man looks like... but I do hc him as having really bad acne scars in school, so much so that you can still see some of them.
🥖- Food hc: like I said... he's got eating issues but ignoring that- I think he's generally a bit fussy with his meals (I'm projecting again😶)and has been since he was young, Alma definitely worried over it😫 GIVE THIS WOMAN A BREAK- but I think he favoured salty things and soft meat/ things that don't have a tough consistency.
🛌- Sleep hc: he has sleeping issues ESPECIALLY after years of having to sleep in a chair. But now that he has a bed again, as soon as his back hits that flat soft surface, he's out like a light🥺🥺
🏡- Domestic hc: everyone agrees with this but I'm saying it again! His sisters fuss over him so much and treat him like he's years younger than them❤ Alma too. And for most of his life, he was called "Brunito" by his family, he was only really called "Bruno" if he was in trouble😭
🗡- Badass hc- we all know he'll do anything for his family, he's so selfless, honestly whats more badass than that? He definitely pretended to curse people if they threatened them, being mean to him is okay... but speaking to his family like they owe you something? You're dead.
❓- Anything else you want: hmm hmmmmm,,, what else??? That he gets sick often, always has but now moreso, his family are here to help tho!😭💖💖😫😫😫
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scientiastudy · 2 years
Text
Lay All Your Love on Me (Chapter IV)
Chapter I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII.
You don't think you'll ever get used to Ardyn, but maybe you'll learn.
Pairing: Ardyn Izunia x Reader
Word count: 3.4k
Rating: M
Content: Angst, kidnapping, reincarnation, one-sided relationship, graphic depictions of violence, gore, mentions of death, grief, dissociation
Author's note: I kinda let this one get away from me lol it's a beast. I felt like I needed a bit of a bigger update since I'm only doing one this week
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At first, you had been relieved to be away from Ardyn. The weight of his presence slowly dissipated from the air as the lazy afternoon light streamed through the window. Being free of him gave you time to let your mind rest for the first time since you'd arrived in your prison. You let the calm wash over you like a wave letting yourself relax into the sheets. You didn’t dare fall asleep, but you closed your eyes and allow your brain to fall completely silent for what felt like the first time in weeks.
By the time you opened your eyes, the afternoon light had changed to the sleepy orange of the setting sun. You briefly debate trying to explore your surroundings, but the thought of Ardyn somehow finding you out and punishing you further stops you. Instead to you turn onto your side and watch the colors of the sky change from the warmth of twilight to the chill of the night through your window.
The grumbling of your stomach is a stark reminder of your current situation, but you push those thoughts away as you indulge yourself in fantasies.
You allow yourself to think about escape again as you watch the red shift to a muted orange. If you could figure out a way to turn something small into a weapon you might have a chance if you “kill” him. It seemed like the best plan because while the Chancellor had not died, he had been temporarily incapacitated.
The orange shifts to pink as your mind wanders to what you’ll do when you’re free. You figure that if you could get to Lucis you’d have a better chance of hiding from the niffs, but the Imperial embargo still stands. Your heart drops when you remember the man who has taken you is responsible for the embargos. If anything they’d become more strict if he knew you were trying to run.
The pink turns to a light yellow hue before dissolving into light blue. You’ll think smaller then. While you don’t know them very well, Ravus and Lunafreya know who you are and would be the easiest to convince of Ardyn’s lies. The only problem is that you’ve heard the Oracle is running around somewhere in Lucis and Ravus is busy fulfilling assignments all across the map. If you want a good chance of escape, you needed to make sure at least one of them is in Altissia or the Secretary’s estate.
The sky turns dark as you mull over your plan in your head. You play thousands of scenarios, and admittedly, Ardyn wins in most of them. You debate if you’d even be able to make the weapon for your plan with the spruce furnishings in your room. Your bed is one of the sole decorations in the blue room. The wooden nightstand next to your bed has been bolted down to the floor and the lamp is bolted to the desk. The last piece of furniture is the plush velvet armchair Ardyn had sat in earlier that day. You even don’t need to shake it to make sure it’s bolted down, the big black rivets visible just above the foot of the bed. To the left of the bed is the window, its gilded frame shimmers as light streams in. The color is a constant reminder of what you are– a bird in a golden cage.
You can’t remember seeing much when you were in the bathroom, but maybe if you broke the mirror you could use it? No, too obvious, Ardyn would notice a broken mirror. You know you’ll need something quick and effective because Ardyn towers over you, and even though you’re a trained crownsguard if it turned into a battle of strength you would not win.
Your mind turns to the closet. You had seen nothing but clothes, nothing in there would be useful in your endeavors.
You’re reminded of just how long you’ve been thinking when you realize your room has become pitch black. Your stomach rumbles faintly, but you have bigger fish to fry.
Namely, you need to pee.
You reach out to the nightstand and fumble around the lamp briefly until you find the on switch, flooding your room with a warm light. You stare at the door to the bathroom and debate your choices. You could sleep it off and hope Ardyn would return your use of your legs in the morning– or you could try yourself and risk punishment. You choose the latter, not wanting to rely on your captor for something so humiliating.
Getting out of bed was the easiest part of the process. You simply sat up against the headboard and rotated your legs so they were hanging off the bed. You then rolled yourself forward and winced at the resounding thunk that accompanied your half-lifeless body falling into the floor.
You simply stay in a heap for a moment, your world spinning on its axis as you try and orient yourself. You can feel your old wounds from the Archean fight scream in protest. Being dehydrated and malnourished doesn’t help much either. You can’t remember the last solid meal you ate– maybe when you were at the rest stop? You also can’t remember when you last had a drink. Your captor had not been benevolent enough to leave any food or water within your reach, and you could feel your throat beginning to dry up.
When you finally collect yourself you place your palms on the floor and attempt to drag yourself forward to the bathroom. You know you’ve been weakened from being asleep so long and your malnourishment and dehydration, but the full weight of their effects doesn’t really sink in until you began your journey to the bathroom.
You’re not out of shape, weeks of running across Lucis and years of crownsguard training had sharpened your physique. While you may not be a tank like Gladio, you still know how to hold your own using your raw strength. But days (maybe weeks? You have no way to tell time in the room) of neglect have left you weak and frail. Your muscles scream as you drag yourself across the carpet, as does your skin. The white slip the Chancellor dressed you in gives little protection to your legs, and as you drag yourself forward you feel rugburn begin to develop on your legs.
You grimace when you realize you’re shaking. Your arms have begun to tremble with your weight, and your legs feel as if they’re made of lead. It feels like you’ve been training with Gladio for two days straight without a break.
You ignore your growing exhaustion and focus on the closed door of the bathroom. As you slowly drag yourself towards the door movement itself begins to feel like a herculean task. Eventually, your exertion gets the better of you. You fall flat onto the floor, your head spinning as you try and drag yourself forward on your forearms.
You finally reach the door, smiling to yourself as you reach for the knob.
Locked.
A feeling of hopelessness fills you as you continue jiggling the door handle to no avail. Your captor had been meticulous about preventing your escape, why had you expected him to give you free rein over your room?
You halfheartedly begin pushing your body against the door, hoping it might give way. However, your efforts prove to be futile. You eventually give up, releasing your grip on the doorknob and slumping onto the floor in defeat.
It’s there, with the side of your face buried into the plush rug that you realize just how dire your straits really are.
You’re alone in a new country being held prisoner by an immortal nutjob, injured, malnourished, paralyzed, and weaponless. The crownsguard had mostly ceased operations, which meant none of your comrades were looking for you.
Comrades. The word bounces around in your head as you remember the grisly site where your companions had died. Tears prick at your eyes as guilt floods your mind. Maybe if you’d refused his offer– If you’d just taken your chance with the Archean they would still be alive.
A silent sob tears itself out of your chest as you realize just how alone you are. Even if you do escape, you’ll never be able to share a game of King’s Knight with Noct and Prompto again. You’ll never hear Ignis hum as he prepares dinner again, you’ll never spend another afternoon training with Gladio pushing yourself to the limit over casual banter.
You mourn for Regis as well. He had never been anything but kind to you. When he had selected you to travel with his son across the sea you had been honored. He’d given you a warm smile when he’d explained his son needed a healer on his journey in case things went awry. The fact that Noct would also benefit from healing due to his injuries went unsaid. He was a considerate man, and it had broken your heart to watch him decay over the years.
Another sob wracks your body as you mourn your city. Insomnia had been your home for as long as you could remember, and in one day it had all been taken from you. You’re no fool, you know if a crownsguard were to appear inside occupied Insomnia you’d be killed or captured by the MTs. The plumes of smoke that had risen in the sky are still ingrained in your brain, along with the horror of realizing you had no home to return to.
Your sobs continue as you fully allow your emotions to wash over you. You feel angry, devastated, terrified, confused, but most potently, alone. Your loneliness is all-consuming, it feels like someone cracked open your ribcage and pulled your heart out, leaving only a dark well of sadness in its place.
You don’t know how long you lay there, muted sobs wracking your frame until you run out of tears. When your eyes run dry numbness sets in, profound and absolute in the silence of the night.
You eventually fall asleep sprawled out on the carpet, your energy and fight long abandoned. All care about being sneaky thrown out the window. If Ardyn is going to punish you then so be it. Not much he could do to make the situation worse you figure.
You wake up to the sound of the door to your room opening. You don’t even need to open your eyes to know that the steady and confident footfalls approaching you are Ardyn.
“Well well, what do we have here?” He asks, and you feel dread build in your stomach at his saccharine tone. His shadow falls over your body as he looms over you, and you briefly wonder if he's about to crush you under the heel of his freshly polished boots. “Darling, I told you that your healing comes first. You cannot heal if you’re not in bed.” He flourishes his hand, once again freeing your voice before continuing. “One would think you would get the hint when your legs were taken. Perhaps I need to make you more sedated?”
Ice-cold fear pierces your heart at his words. You frantically shake your head, pointing to the bathroom.
“Need to pee,” You rasp out, your voice gravelly from misuse and lack of water. This seems to appease your captor. He visibly softens, crouching down to your level on the floor.
“Oh darling, my apologies. I should have known you’d need to use the facilities sometime or other,” You’re shocked by his apology as he produces the key to the bathroom from his pocket, unlocking the door and opening it before leaning down to scoop you into his arms.
“No,” You protest, voice weak. “I can do it myself,” You begin to squirm in his grip, trying your hardest to get away as he places you on top of the toilet like a doll. Humiliation burns hot and red in your cheeks as he stares at you expectantly.
“I can do this on my own,” You protest, trying your best to sound assertive as your look at Ardyn’s figure looming in the doorway.
“Darling you needn’t be shy, it isn’t anything I’ve never seen before,” He coos. His words make your skin crawl as he eyes you up and down, his gaze lingering on the lines of your chest and the curve of your waist. You don’t let it deter you, fixing your firm gaze on him in an expression you hope says “I’m not budging on this.”
Luckily it does. With a dramatic sigh, the chancellor turns around, resting his shoulder against the frame of the door.
“Could you please close the door?” You rasp, and the Chancellor shakes his head.
“Trust is given, not earned darling. And after your little stunts on the ship and in the hallway, you have a lot of earning to do.” He replies, and you can hear the smirk in his voice.
You sit in silence on the toilet, staring at the back of his head as you both reach a stalemate. He breaks the silence first, telling you “If you don’t complete your task by the time I turn around, you won’t find another opportunity for a while.”
His words are enough to make you sigh in defeat, pulling your underwear down your legs and hiking the white slip up above your hips. The silence while you finish your business was humiliating, but what's more humiliating is the realization you’ll need Ardyn’s help again to wash your hands.
Seemingly reading your mind, the Chancellor turns around and fills a basin full of water from the sink before putting it on your lap, handing you a bar of soap as well. You wash your hands in silence, the sylleblossom scent of the soap wafting into your nostrils as you lather it between your hands.
When you’re finished Ardyn removes the basin from your lap, pours the contents into the sink, and places the bar of soap on the counter.
The numbness from before creeps in, muting the disgust and rage that courses through your veins as your captor runs a hand through your hair. [You allow yourself to fall into it, losing yourself in the abyss of your own mind as you faintly feel your body being lifted into the air again. You barely register being put back into bed, your captor propping a pillow up behind the small of your back so you can sit up. You’re dimly aware of a hairbrush running through the tangled knots in your hair.
In your mind, you’re floating. You feel comfortably empty as memories slip by your consciousness. One moment you’re watching Ignis set up the propane stove at camp, the next you’re getting a tutorial from Prompto on how to use a Blizzaroid camera. It's like watching your life from someone else's point of view, like you're watching a movie for your own memories.
The image of Gladio kissing your cheek at one of the King’s soirees floats by, and you cling to it for a moment. The warmth of the memory washes over you, and you’re briefly there again. You’re in an itchy ballgown tagging along as a plainclothes guard for Noct when an old courtesan niff approaches you, the stench of wine radiating off him as he made clumsy attempts to flirt with you.
Gladio had come to your rescue with an arm around your waist and a kiss on the cheek, asking how you’d been enjoying the festivities. You’d played along and the courtesan had left in a huff, ranting about how he could find better prospects somewhere else.
Just as quickly as it came, the memory slips out of your fleeting grip. You’re once again floating in space. The static numbness is a comfort as you feel your captor begin to braid your hair. It almost feels as if it’s happening to someone else, that you've left a doll shaped like you back in your prison in Altissa while you freely float through your own mind.
Now you’re playing King’s Knight with Noct in the back of a trailer somewhere in Duscae. He always complains when he loses, but you don’t mind. Prompto will always cheer him back up anyways.
You’re in the crownsguard barracks. Your muscles are screaming from the Marshall’s particularly harsh training of the day. Your bunkmate Laurie won’t stop snoring and you kick the bottom of her bed out of frustration. She falls silent, and you take the opportunity to get some well-deserved rest.
You’re young now. Maybe ten? You flit around the market in search of the items on your list. Your chaperone, Cor, does most of the serious work while you look for simple things like milk and bread. You’re stunned by all of the colors and shapes and smells in one place.
Everything is blurry now. You see photos of your mother and father hanging in the front of the temple. There’s a priest talking about how the crownsguard have a noble duty to protect the crystal, how your parents died doing a divine service to the country.
Regis is holding your hand small hand. The next day you’re moved into the crownsguard barracks, the Marshall your chaperone until you’re old enough to be left to your own devices.]*
To your dismay, the shell of numbness begins to dissolve as you feel your captor begin to caress your cheek. You try and hang onto it, but the threads of static slip through your fingers as you slowly come back to reality.
When you finally come back to the present moment, Ardyn is holding a mirror in front of you. He’s delicately twisted your hair into an intricate braided pattern, small pins with garnets nestled into the design. His hand is holding your chin and you flinch away, now fully able to feel the disgust his touch triggers.
When you examine your reflection further you see just how much weight you’ve lost as your face looks sallow and gaunt. You’re paler than you remember. It strikes you that you look like one of the women you’d see in history books with your hairstyle, and your mood sours even further. You hate being this man’s little doll, hate how he’s chosen to enact his twisted fantasies on you just because of some “tragedy” centuries ago.
You’re broken out of your reverie by your captor planting a kiss on the top of your head. Punishment be damned, your years of crownsguard training kick in as you land a punch squarely on his jaw with a satisfying crack.
You'd almost prefer punishment over his true reaction.
He smiles kindly down at you, gathering you in his arms as you try anything to get away. Your fear and disgust morph into white-hot anger as he presses you to his chest. All your emotions from the previous night resurface, bloody and raw. You claw at his face, leaving angry red marks in your wake as your hurl curses at him, but he doesn’t budge. He remains still as you crush his eyes under your fingers, as you rake your nails over his ears and gnash your teeth.
You hurl every swear imaginable at him, your vocabulary foul enough to make even a sailor faint. You continue your onslaught despite your hands being slippery and covered in blood, pounding on your captor’s chest and demanding for him to let you go. He doesn’t budge until you finally exhaust yourself, your all-consuming anger simmering into quiet sobs of defeat.
If it were anyone else you’d be melting into his touch. You’d bask in the warmth of their chest and the security of their thick arms wrapped around you.
But it isn’t someone else.
It’s him.
He finally moves, slipping one arm out from under your legs to caress you, tilting your face up to meet his gaze. His face is streaked with blood, his amber eyes fully regenerated as he looks at you with a mix of compassion and sadness. Angry red lines still cross his cheeks and neck, and for a moment you’re horrified with yourself as you become acutely aware of the blood drying on your hands.
“My little one,” He says gently, his eyes still soft. “I will love you no matter how much you hurt me, no matter how many times you grace me with the taste of death,” He places a kiss against the top of your head again, and this time you don’t fight it. You’re too exhausted to fight, too exhausted to feel.
“I understand you’re confused and in pain, but everything I do for you is in your best interest, my sweet,” He continues, and you muster up enough energy to roll your eyes, not caring that he can see you.
“Now, why we get you cleaned up, hm?”
* Information recap: The reader remembers a rime Gladio was flirty with her. It is revealed that the reader was an orphan raised by the crownsguard due to her parents being officers who were KIA.
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wyn-n-tonic · 4 years
Text
Golden, Like Daylight -- Part V
Word Count: 2,005 Warnings: PTSD. Allusions to sex (it borders on the edge of smut but we should know by now I'm shit at that). Hint of a praise kink. Bit of marking kink. Death. Ben Affleck. Author's Note: The last few chapters have taken a lot out of me, I put a lot of my own experiences with PTSD and mental health into them. I tried to make this fluffy, I needed that comfort after a hard week and I feel lighter for it. As always, thank you so much for your kind words and loving this like I do.
MASTERLIST | PART: I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX
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“Fuck you.” Benny stares straight into Tom’s eyes. "This is my fuck you money.” The held breaths are louder than gunshots, waiting for a reaction that doesn’t come.
Cold Camp Davis grunts a laugh, “We don’t have enough men to carry all this money so we might as well be warm.”
Benny giggles like a child as he grabs a strap, zippo clicking to ignition again.
The laughter that bubbles up is like a light, warmer than the thousands of dollars burning bright against his eyes.
Frankie, you might as well take your salary out on the front lawn and pour some kerosene on it.
He hears it so clearly in his head and in his heart, Leah teasing him for all the lights being on the first time he took her home.
Tom stands up, dumping an entire case down to tinder in the cold air.
Eight dates in and she’d already witnessed one of his attacks. It was the third date, he’d wanted to take her home that night. His body on hers for hours. Wanted to make breakfast the next morning, having already committed to memory the way she takes her coffee. Instead, she spent that night holding tightly to his hands as his panic crescendoed in the backseat of his car.
If it wasn’t then that he realized he loved her, it was in the way she turned to look at him when he quietly said,
The lights being on make me feel safe.
It wasn’t pity, like he’s used to. It wasn’t the look somebody gives a broken man with a broken mind and a broken soul. The only change he found in the already soft features was an understanding behind the dark eyes staring back at him.
This fire makes him feel safe now.
He’s always straining in the dark. It’s not just about watching his six. It’s all twelve hands on deck with two eyes and a ringing in his ears so intense he can feel it in his toes.
But here? It beats back against the edges of gloom that have continuously threatened to consume him.
He can sweep enclosed spaces in minutes, assess the situation and the danger within. It’s a lot harder in the extended wilds, nothing but the moon to guide the eye.
Before Leah—and for a while there after—he combed room for room upon his arrival home. He’d ask her to stay in the car, his conceal carry coming out as soon as the door would swing open.
He’d sheepishly grin, collecting her from the passenger side after his survey and she’d hug him. Holding tightly around his middle section, pressing her cold hands up under his shirt to that hot place where his heart beats and whisper with genuine gratitude,
Thank you for protecting me, Frankie.
It was never condescending, that’s all he ever wanted to do. Protect her. Protect himself. Protect the men giggling like schoolboys around him right now.
And he liked being told what a good job he did at that. —————
“What's Frankie short for?” Barely audible, her breath fanning across his chest as she continues to catch it. Like willing waves of normalcy in the aftermath of a hurricane.
“Francisco.”
“Francisco,” she repeats, dragging out the o. “Do you like it?”
“Used to make me feel like I was in trouble, very harsh coming from pissed off higher ups and even angrier parents but it sounds…” he thinks on that for a second, the events of the night still rippling through his body, “a lot sweeter in your mouth.”
“Watch yourself,” she hums a kiss into the flat plane of his breast before sinking her teeth into the flesh there, biting as hard as she can.
A chuckle vibrates from deep within him, “one hell of a bite too, I won’t soon forget.”
He looks down into her eyes, bright with mischief as she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth now. He’d had hickeys before but never like this. He surveys the purple marks across his body, somehow burning brighter than the rest of him, and a contentedness pools in the pit of his stomach. Her stamps on him in easily hidden spaces to match the lipstick stains she’s started marking across his right cheek in the moments before they walk into the bar or the restaurant.
Little ways she says mine.
And he is hers. He knows it in the steady way his lungs rise and fall underneath her now.
He brushes a soft wave from where it tickles across her nose, “is Leah short for anything?”
Her nose scrunches, “not a goddamn thing.”
“Do you know what it means then?” His large hand is sprawled across her lower back, the weight of it an anchor.
Don’t leave me, it says.
“I don’t know,” she drawls, the slight twang coming forward in moments of exhaustion and inebriation, “just think my mama liked the sound of it is all.”
His heart is blazing underneath her cheek as she settles against him once more, her soft voice tumbles towards him, “Francisco…” as her eyelashes brush against his skin and he swears he can count them all on sensation alone.
“Yeah, baby?”
He feels a smile tug at her lips, stopped in its tracks where she’s rooted into him. It’s the first time he’s called her that.
“I have nightlights.”
The light makes her feel safe too. —————
He’s standing over Tom’s body and he hates to admit it but the feeling washing over him is one of relief.
Relief mingled with guilt.
Guilt that nobody was watching his six, his back wide open to the world behind it. Five seasoned fucking veterans and nobody watching the higher ground.
Relief at the silence he knows will engulf the group now. No more orders from a child who should’ve never been granted the lead to begin with.
Guilt because he was climbing up a fucking rock when he should’ve been doing his job as a friend and brother.
Relief that it wasn’t his brains splashed across stone.
His head is fucking pounding and it has been for days, pain dulled by consistency but never not there.
At least I can feel my fucking head.
He thinks of all the other things he can feel now, the things service beat from his body.
The ache in his limbs, heavy with exhaustion.
He’s dreading adding the dead weight of a dead body to the load.
The pang in his stomach, too used to consistently hot food.
He wants black coffee and bacon and tiny spoonfuls of sweet potato puree he airplanes into his own mouth to show Luna it won’t hurt her. Hell, he’d take the mushed peas right now.
Benny’s sobbing. The one amongst them all that never breaks is the broken one now.
He’s staring off again at everything and nothing, Santiago and Will unfurling bags for the body.
What a present to bring home.
It was always the risk they faced, they knew it.
If you were lucky, truly lucky, you came home whole. Untouched, unscathed, unmarred. The safe deployments, the technical shit, the brains behind the operations never seeing bloodshed. Everybody else though? Some were held together by duct tape and pure grit.
Others tied up in a flag with a bow.
Daddy’s not coming home but here’s a purple heart for the dress uniform he’ll never wear again.
I should’ve done more.
He’s not getting a purple heart for this.
I should’ve held on tighter.
He didn’t die in service to his country, he died in service to himself.
I should’ve made a bigger issue of the weight.
Another family he’s failed to protect.
I should’ve said no. —————
The darkness is cut through with a warm glow in every outlet as the clock tips over the edge of midnight.
Wednesday, the eleventh of October.
Nose to nose, the excitement of the day hangs over them like a wave threatening to crash. A giddiness in their bed forcing sleep to the edges of thought.
“Do you think they’re gonna know?” Her voice is soft, featherlight. Trying not to disturb the peaceful bubble they find themselves in now.
“No,” he lifts to press his lips gently into hers, “but I can’t promise I won’t shout it out on the altar.”
Panic takes her eyes, he knows it all too well and he’s gripping tighter before she can inhale. Fingers splayed across the small of her back, the weight of it a comfort to the tender bones and aching muscles.
I'm right here, it says.
“Breathe, breathe,” he’s speaking softly into her hair, “it was just a joke, baby.”
“You're not funny, Francisco Morales.” She speaks it like a fact, like she doesn’t spend hours in his arms filling his head with the music of her laughter. She says it like he isn’t watching smile lines appear in real time, falling more in love with each one.
“Would it be so bad though? If I did? If people knew?” It’s hope in his voice that she’ll say yes. That he can announce to his best friends all at once, every single one, before Santi leaves again. He doesn't want his happiness to arrive by text message. He wants to see the light of congratulation dancing around him.
“I don’t want to jinx it,” she’s scared, “besides… it’s not traditional.”
He scoffs, “what about us has ever been traditional, mi alma?”
“I'll make you a deal,” her fingers run through the stubble along his jaw, thumbs lingering over the patches, “don’t shave this tomorrow and you can tell the boys.”
“You want me to keep this malnourished shit on my face? For our wedding?”
Her giggles vibrate against him, “Yes. I have plans for it after you say I do.”
He growls, “this deal sounds pretty sweet to my lazy soul, what do you get out of it?”
“Hmm…” she brings her hand up to tap on her chin, “well, to begin, I’m getting a hot husba—”
“Debatable.”
“I'll fuck you up, Morales, take the compliment.”
He laughs a kiss into her, “what else?”
“Benny and Will will become automatic attack dogs around me, I’m fairly certain they will clear their schedules for all of April to stand guard outside the room. My own personal security team.”
He laughs again at the truth in her words, “what else?”
She pushes forward again, taking his lip between hers. A soft kiss with the burning desire for more.
“I’ll wake up on Thursday morning with a rawness between my legs that I’m usually only gifted on the weekends.”
His grip tightens, any suggestion of sleep leaving his body in a rush of blood straight through him, “I will never shave again.”
“Don't threaten me with a good time, my love.”
He rolls himself into her at that, kissing down her jaw. Her neck. The sensitive skin of her breasts, low lying cotton barely above indecency. He raises the hem, the curve of her belly burning hot against his lips, two hearts now beating inside her.
He grabs the elastic around her hips and gently pulls, kisses so soft across her pelvis they feign an innocence to his true intentions. Her legs kick out to help discard the fabric tangling her ankles as he settles broad shoulders at the base of her being.
Her fingers twirl through the soft curls that have been crushed against a pillow for hours by her side.
He kisses her soft thighs, slowly dragging his rough cheek against the delicate flesh.
“Francisco,” her fingers flex tighter as he looks up to meet her eyes, “don’t be such a fucking tease.”
He smiles wide, the devilish grin splitting his face as he drops his eyes to where she wants him, the fever that’s taken over her body in the last three months beckoning him in.
His hands are heavy on her hips, clenching deep purple into her. Marks in easily hidden spaces, his little ways of saying mine.
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i-am-infinite · 4 years
Text
Guilt (Part 2): The Market
(Din Djarin x ForceSensitive!F!Reader)
Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
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Description: Moff Gideon has found someone else to run his experiments on and word gets back to Din. Will he take his son far away and try and find somewhere safe? Or will the guilt of an innocent being put in his son’s place eat away at him? (No Y/N or ___ used)
Word Count: 4.5K
Warnings: violence, mention of blood, needles, crude talk, symtoms of anxiety attack, fluff, angst, implied death and death, let me know if I'm missing any
A/N: This took a while to write because I was really distraught after Chpt 14. Also planning on turning this into a little series. I'm going to try and finish it before my next semester starts in Feb. I also don’t know how to write fight sequences so sorry in advance. 
You see a stormtrooper take aim at your rescuer. Right when he pulls the trigger, you reach your hand out screaming, “NO!”
It was supposed to miss him. It missed him before. Instead of bending out of the way, it hits him and the Mandalorian goes down fast. Before you know it, more troopers come, grabbing Dr. Pershing and dragging him away. They start coming towards you when you hear yourself say, “No, please no!” You could run towards the speeders, but there’s too many of them now, they can catch up easier. Looking back at the shiny man, tears leave your eyes. You were supposes to save him. That’s how it was supposed to happen. You start screaming the only name you know for him as a stormtrooper grabs your arms and has them twisted behind your back. Dragging you back to where you escaped from, the stormtrooper is calling your name. 
He keeps calling it as he shakes your arms then follows it with, “Wake up.” Why does that mechanical voice sound different from the rest? The words echo in your head. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. 
The stormtrooper helmets transforms into the one of the Mandalorian as you open your eyes. His hands leave your upper arms as he crouches in front of you. Still disoriented, your own hand comes up to your cheeks to shield your face when you realize it feels damp to the touch. Closing your eyes again and taking deep breathes you have to tell yourself over and over again: He’s here. I’m here. It was just a dream. Finally calmed down, you open your eyes to Mando still squatting in front of you. 
“You okay?” His modulated voice says to you. Nodding your head while wiping way the last of the tears, you can’t help but feel heat rise to your cheeks, wishing you could just disappear as you sink further into the copilot chair. “You want to talk about it?” he tentatively asks next. If it were anyone else, you would’ve probably said no, but seeing his tenderness as he cared for Grogu over the past few hours in hyperspace makes you give in. 
“We- we were back there, about to get on the speeders,” your heart rate picks up again thinking of it. You have no idea why the dream is affecting you this much. Continuing on with a shaky voice, “The stormtrooper, h- he shot you before I- I could- and” tears were forming in your eyes again, “and they st- started dragging me off and-” your voice suddenly barely above a whisper as you continue, “you weren’t moving.” 
You shouldn’t have shared it. Oh gosh, you wish you could take it back now. He hasn’t said anything. He probably thinks you’re weak now, unable to handle yourself, let alone a nightmare. It was a stupid dream, you are about to tell him when you hear him sigh, “Give me your hand.” Confused, you hesitate, causing him to tilt his helmet to the side and hold out his hand. Giving in, you hold out your own, placing it in his still hesitant. Moving his hand down to your wrist, gripping it lightly as he moves it his chest plate, he speaks again, “Feel this? This is beskar, strong enough to withstand blaster shots. While what you did was impressive, all you stopped from happening is me having to clean my back plate later.” Your face falls at this, noticing it, he brings his other hand over yours. You feel all the heat you have left in your body run up to your face. He declares, “That dream wouldn’t have come true. You’re safe. They won’t get to you again, I promise.” 
Still with your hand against the cool metal, all you can say is, “Oh. Thank you.” You wait for him to let go of your hand and wrist before you pull away, but he still hasn’t. Grogu stirs on the chair to your right, waking up after seeming to have slept through your nightmare. As if the noise startled Mando, he finally lets go and picks up his son. Clanking could be heard coming up from the ladder. 
Mando sits back in the pilot chair with the little green child who keeps trying to reach for the different buttons on his lap, as Dr. Pershing also seems to have finally woken up. Coming into the cockpit carrying a discarded IV bag. Oops. Should have put that back in at some point. 
Pershing comes as squats to the side of your chair, blocked off by the arm rest. “Looks like you’ve got some of your color back, which is good. Just to be safe, you should probably leave this in for longer.” Just nodding your head in response, scared your voice will falter, but now not knowing if it was from the dream or the prolonged touch of the beskar man. Or the fact that Pershing just pointed out how you’re blushing right in front of the person who caused in the first place. 
Trying not to look up at Mando, due to sheer embarrassment, you fail at your task when he turns to watch Pershing with the child still on his lap. He tries to be causal of his hand on his thigh, a little too close to his blaster as the doctor gets closer to you, while Grogu plays with his fingers. Father and protector, you smile to yourself. Realizing your line of gaze, he moves his other hand to hold to his child and abruptly turns his chair towards the stars as you feel a cold pinch in your arm. 
The next hour or so is spent in silence, preparing to land on who-knows-what-planet. As long as you can get off this chilly ship and descend out of the numbness of space, it doesn’t matter where. You might be being a little over-dramatic, but wearing a now torn, thin, short sleeved shirt, some sort of pants with blaster powder now littering it, and no shoes, you think you deserve the right to be just a tad dramatic. The IV bag is finally finished, so there’s one less ice-cold thing touching your skin. Still you shiver in your seat, not wanting to impose too much and ask for a blanket or a change of clothes. Hopefully wherever you get off is warm, or at least warmer. 
Finally descending, you see tall, colorful structures, bright blue skies, and so much green. It’s beautiful. You can’t take your gaze off the gorgeous landscape getting larger before your eyes. Pulling your legs away from your chest, you brave the cold floor yet again to try and get a closer look. Audibly making a noise as you shiver, both men turn towards you, finally taking in your tattered appearance. With a static-y sigh, your starting to think that’s how he starts everything he says, the Mandalorian notes, “We should probably get you some better clothes.” His helmet points down to your feet, then tilts as he says, “And shoes.” 
Bare feet hit the luscious green grass, toes curling and uncurling into it as you deeply inhale the fresh air. The sun hitting your skin makes you feel alive again, warming you from outside to inside. It’s as if you can feel the golden rays pouring out of you. You have never seen nature as brilliant and as vibrant as it is here, you never want to leave its warmth. Too caught up in your own little world, you don’t notice the two men start walking towards the city. Grogu babbling in Mando’s bag snaps you out of it and you slightly jog to try and catch up to them. 
It takes a while to walk into the city, considering where Mando landed his ship. By the time you actually get there, your feet feel like one of the thousand rocks you’ve stepped on during this journey. The armored man barely seems to notice at first of you trailing behind, only stopping when the city is finally in view. So now to top of being cold and unequipped for this amount of walking, you are now tired. Grrrwwww. And hungry. Hopefully no one heard the atrocious noise your stomach just made. When was the last time you ate? 
Mando must of heard it growl because before you can react, he tosses you a few credits and tells you to go get something to eat while he takes Pershing somewhere to set up his new life. You didn’t catch the last part because you’re already following your nose to the nearest source of food. While walking away you hear more static come out of his helmet, like he was sighing again, but it wasn’t the same as last time. It almost sounded like a laugh. Was... was he laughing at you? You whip your head around, but they’ve already disappeared. Shaking your head, you turn back and let your stomach take the lead again. 
Mando and Grogu finally come back when you are all about done with this meat on a stick. They find you sitting in front of this little shop, eyes closed in bliss about finally eating. There’s barely anyone around, so it was not very hard to spot you. Finally looking up, ripping one of the last pieces off the kebob, you beam up at him. You don’t know it but seeing you happy after the events of this morning, brings a smile to the bounty hunter’s face. Offering his hand to help you stand, he asks, “Better?” You nod your head in response while he helps pull you up. Shoving he little piece of meat into your mouth, you hear his voice yet again, “What even is that?” 
“I don’t know,” you counter. “All I know if that it smelled really good. Honestly if I knew what it was, I probably wouldn’t be able to eat it,” you finish with a giggle. He just nods, still without you seeing the smile planted on his face. You two walk side by side going into the city, with Grogu in a bag on his father’s hip of course. 
You can hear the main part of the city before you actually see it. People are bustling, vendors litter the streets, it’s astonishing. And overwhelming, very overwhelming. Your breath hitches as you recall that a vendor was the way they found you before. But no, no you’re safe with the Mandalorian, he said they wouldn’t get to you. No, that he wouldn’t let them get to you. Without noticing, you start walking closer to Mando, more into his personal space than he usually likes. You’re close enough to graze his hand while walking, and right now you desperately want to reach out and grab it. Okay, it’s okay, just focus on your breathing, in and out, in and out. 
Too busy trying to calm yourself, you don’t notice Mando look over at you after he felt you invade his space. He whispers to you, “Are you okay?” but the volume is too much to get his question to your ears. Instead he lightly puts his hand at the small of your back, causing you to slightly jump. Looking around, your line of vision finally falls on the bounty hunter’s arm, now removed from your back, moving back towards his side. A blush creeps up to your cheeks as your realize that he noticed you. Pull it together. You manage to walk only a few more feet until someone bumps into you and instinct takes over as you grab onto something to steady yourself. The thing that happens to be is Mando’s arm. 
Luckily, he extends it behind your back to steady you, but not before sending the poor soul that accidentally bumped you what can only assumed is a death glare. That poor man turns as pale as a ghost. You almost forgot how menacing he could be. You’ve only been on the receiving end of Mando’s protection and don’t want to know what the opposite would be like. You two continue to walk with his arm guiding you, until you see it. Shoes. You nearly forgot about the pain in your feet until you saw them. Hand no longer on your back, you hurry forward, leaving the now frenzied and confused Mandalorian behind. 
Reaching the stand, you turn to find Mando with his hand on his blaster and his bucket of a helmet frantically looking around the area for a sign of danger. The T of his visor finally looks back at you and you just mouth to him, shoes! and then point at your bare feet. He tilts his head to the side and you just know that he sighed. Shaking your head, you let out a huff of air that resembles a laugh at his signature way of expressing himself. 
Before you know it, you have new shoes, already on your feet, a few shirts and two pairs of pants. Mando insisted you have layers because who knows where they might end up. This begs the question, what kind of trouble has he gotten into before, better yet what trouble are you getting yourself into? Babbles from a hidden baby remind you that maybe the trouble is worth it. 
The shiny man and you continue walking around the marketplace of the city. He said he wanted to see if they had any spare parts that he could use for the Razor Crest and you were just happy to be wearing boots and having the extra time to break them in. “You can go look around if you want, I’m going to be over here,” Mando states as he inspects some round, gear-looking thing. Figuring you’d get bored of the mechanical items, you go to wander. “Hey,” the modulated voice cuts through again, “stay close.” Nodding, you only go two booths down to look at the books laid out. 
Eyes scan to find anything remotely related to this thing, this power, you and Grogu possess. In the back of your mind also knowing you’re searching for something to tell you more about Mandalorian culture, as you have become intrigued by your new companion. While looking, something shiny, much like Mando, catches your eye. Turning to the next booth, the item seems to be a hair pin. You freeze. 
A flower hair pin. Pearl in the center, with gray and white iridescent petals. No, no, no, no this can’t be happening. It feels like you can’t get enough air into your lungs. Your legs feel like lead, but you need to get out of there, you have to. The table has more unfinished glass pieces there too, just like before. They can find you. They can get you. They can get the baby. No that can’t happen, you force your tense legs to move as your hands shake. Backing up away from the stand, you bump into the book stand, letting a stack of books fall into the dirt. “Sorry, sorry,” you say with an unsteady voice. You need to find Mando, you need to find the baby, you need to -
Hands grab the back of your shoulders, as you think it’s over. You try to shake them off when you’re turned around to a familiar T visor. You stop fighting against him and grab his forearms. Your breathing still hasn’t slowed as he asks with a sternness you haven’t heard from him, “What happened?”
You can’t think of how to explain with your mind and heart racing and can only answer with, “We need to get out of here.” He pesters why to better understand the situation but all you can answer with is, “please,” as tears threaten to spill. “We need to get out of here please Mando.” He looks around confused, trying to find any source of danger, but turns his attention back to you when your grip tightens and you try to pull the three of you out of there. 
He lets you lead him to the edge of the city, back towards the green scenery you landed in. Finally stopping you with his hands on your shoulders again, he calls your name, “You need to tell me what is going on.” Taking a few breaths trying to compose yourself, you explain how the day before you were taken, you were at a shop similar to the one you were at. How you saw this hair pin then cut your hand while the person working tried to help you clean up. Explaining how you thought nothing of it, until you realized they wanted your blood for experiments. You barely make it through telling him that you saw the same set up with the hair pin at that booth. 
“That’s how they must have found me. We need to get out of here before they recognize us, please,” you plead. His helmet hangs down low as he slides one hand down to take your hand and begins walking back towards the ship. 
Arriving back at the ship, Mando hands you the bag filled with new clothes, “Go change, I’ll take care of this.” Just thinking he meant to fly the three of you off the planet, you go into the ‘fresher and get ready to take off far away from here. Finally dressed and hearing the latch close, you climb up to the cockpit. Grogu gurgles and makes grabby hands for you to pick him up from the co-pilot seat. While doing so, you realize the pilot seat is empty. 
“Where’s your dad, huh little one?” you coo at him. You called out to Mando to get no response. Attempting to climb down the ladder with the child wasn’t easy, especially still worried from before. You call out to Mando again, this time more frantic as he’s nowhere to be found. Your hear rate increase as you search the ship. Pressing the button you think would open the latch of the ship does nothing. What? did he lock you in here? You open some cabinets to be met with his armory. Picking up a blaster, you start rambling to the kid, “Your dad won’t mind right? Yeah, he’d want you protected. I won’t need to use it, but just in case. Yeah, just in case. Why don’t we also hang out in the cockpit away from the doors? Sound good?” You’re only met with muffled babbles back as Grogu sticks his stubby hand in his mouth. “Yeah, we’re going to be okay. Nothing is going to happen.” You hope.
Back in the city, Din is looking for a stand that has this... hair pin? Does he even know what one of those looks like? He’ll figure it out, you knocked some books over, so he decides he’ll start there. Unfortunately for Din, most of the vendors are closing down their booths. Dank farrik. He’s got to move quickly before they’re all closed. 
Speed walking, he comes across the same man working the booth Din was at before you panicked. He asks the man if he knows if there is a booth that sells this item, and thankfully he points Din in the right direction. Four booths down. The people who wanted his child, and now you, could’ve been four booths down from him and he had no idea. Now’s not the time to beat himself up over this, he needs answers. Stalking up to the table, he’s met with a young man cleaning up the stand. Without looking up the man says, “What can I help you with?” Din’s hand ghosts over the pin you described to him and sees the many broken pieces scattered on the table. 
“Seems a little... unsafe having all of these around,” Din observes while now moving around the table. The man finally looking up, goes white in the face and begins to run. Why do they always think they can outrun me? Chasing the man down an alley, Din uses his grappling hook around his feet and the man goes tumbling to the ground. Grabbing him by the collar to face him. Anger laced through his modulated voice, “Did you follow us?”
“Nope, just the lucky bastard that happened to be on the same planet as you,” He spits out. Din notices that he moves his jaw to the side, but the man continues, “Don’t worry they’ll find you and the child soon. Oh, and I’m sure the troopers will have a good time with that pretty little girl you have once  they get their hands on her.” Before Din can land a hand on this guy, he bites down on something and there’s electricity everywhere, just like he saw with Bo Katan. Din barely jumps off the man in time. Now full of adrenaline and anger he stands there for a few seconds thinking of his next move. Kriff. He needs to get back to you and his son. 
You are sitting on the cold floor of the cockpit, with Grogu on your lap, hand hovering the blaster that is next to you on the ground. Banging coming from the Crest makes you jump. It sounds like the hatch opens, so you clutch Grogu closer and pick up the blaster as you stand up. The pram is still in the cockpit, so you put the baby that is pulling your hair in and close it. Going to the opening between the levels, with shaky hands, you raise the blaster and wait. Clanging can be heard when you finally hear Mando call your name and the kid’s.
Hopping down the ladder, blaster still in hand, you smile at him as he stands still. “What the hell are you doing with that,” he barks at you. You stand there dumbfounded, he’s the one that left you in the ship with his child. He should be glad your first thought was to protect him. He continues with his hands on his hips, “Do you even know how to use that?”
Still startled, you stammer, “You just- point and shoot?” With that his hands go up in astonishment and back down again, almost as if he’s saying, are you kriffing kidding me? Why is he so angry right now? 
“You’re - you’re the one that left me, that left us here,” you point back up to the cockpit, “I didn’t know if someone else could get in or not. Why are you so angry at me for trying to protect your son?” 
“You could have shot him or yourself, you don’t even know how to use it,” his voice raises and he takes it out of your hand. 
“I’m not the one that left us here defenseless!” you scream. Both of you stand there for second huffing at each other. Finally thinking a little bit more rationally, you ask, “Where did you even go?” 
Pushing past you, he put something in your hand, “I took care of it.” He climbs the ladder as you look. The hair pin. He took care of it? He took care of it. Your face falls thinking of what that means. Following him back up, you take Grogu from the pram and place him on your hip. 
“You took care of it?” you say astonished, “Care to elaborate?” Mando sits in the pilot chair already plotting a new location. 
“No.” Your eyes go wide as he spins the chair to face you. “I’m flying us out of here and I-,” his hands go up in defeat, “I need to eat. I’ll tell you when it’s safe to come up.” He sounds less angry but still very annoyed. At this point you’re fuming. You spin on your heels with Grogu playfully slapping his little 3-fingered hand across your face for attention. 
You leave the cockpit and grab two food packets on the crate before the ladder opening. Stuffing them in your pocket, you try to maneuver yet again down the ladder with a baby clinging to you. Hopping off the last wrung, you go to sit on the crates you woke up on. Opening the packets, you help feed Grogu his. 
Why was he so mad? If anything, he should be thankful that you were being resourceful. And after the past couple of days you think you deserve the right to be a little worked up about things like this. The anger is fueling you right now. It keeps spiraling, you can feel the darkness surround you. This used to happen when you were younger. Your emotions would almost devour you whole. Luckily your mother would always tell you, it’s okay to have these emotions but don’t let them consume you. She would lead you through some breathing exercises to help you calm down. Oh, you wish she were here with you right now to help. Could she have known about this ability you have? That’s not important right now, you need to breath and calm down. While doing so, you feel two little hands come and rest on your chest, as to help you relax more. Playing with his ears, the weight of the day starts to set in. You feel your eyes start to droop and before you know it, you’re asleep yet again. 
Din holds his head in his hands. He shouldn’t have snapped. He knows this. It’s just knowing that Moff Gideon and his Imps could be anywhere in the galaxy trying to find others like the two Jedi he seemed to have collected. Are you even a Jedi? He still has no idea how this even works. Din shakes his head trying to clear it of what that man said. The anger boils up in him thinking of what he said about you, about their hands on you. He wishes he could’ve gotten a few punches in on him. He got out easy. 
He’d do anything to protect Grogu, he knows it and they know it. But now with you in the equation? He’s terrified. He doesn’t know what he got himself into with now both of you under his protection. You don’t know this but he saw you peeking through the opening, with your hands shaking holding the blaster and with such fear in your eyes. A pain springs up in his chest just thinking of it. Looking up towards the door, he thinks it might be time for him to stop hiding and time to go apologize for his behavior. He did just leave without explaining. You also have just been kidnapped and rescued in a matter of days. He sighs, remembering what you have gone through, and now with the reminder in the city. He should have been a little calmer and not taken out his frustrations out on you. 
Putting his helmet back on, he opens the cockpit doors and climbs down the ladder again, only to hear soft snores. There you are with your back against the wall, with Grogu in your lap. Grogu’s eyes open and he starts to make, very slow, sleep filled, grabby hands at his dad. Carefully taking the baby out of your arms, he opens up his own bunk and places the child in his little hammock. Quiet babbling is directed at him and Din responds, “I know, I know, I’m getting her a pillow and blanket.” 
Moving back over towards you with those items in hand, he places the pillow in its spot and carefully shifts you into a lying position, bringing your legs up onto the crates. After placing the blanket over you, Din moves the fallen pieces of hair out of your face. You look so peacefully, he can’t help but stare. Finally, he sighs, “I guess I better teach you how to shoot then.” 
Taglist: @rogueheretic555​ @heythere-mel​ @dancingwiththeplanets​ @ohpedromypedro​ 
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Birds : Poe Dameron x Reader
Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader
Words: 1k
Summary: “When Poe Dameron takes his final breaths, he knows he will see birds.”
A look at those who remained with Poe throughout his entire life.
Warnings: Mentions of violence, sexual implications
A/N: So I haven’t posted any work in a minute…. Writer’s block is horrible; I’m sure we can all agree. Well, I’m back with this. It’s super short, loose in structure, but it’s a start…. Hope you enjoy!
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Poe Dameron’s earliest memory is of birds.
Of flight. Of freedom. Of liberation in the sky.
It’s of a flutter of wings, a stream of air, a thousand bullets made of bone, flesh, and feathers erupting from foliage.
Parrots, macaws, hummingbirds...a thousand other nameless Yavinese species—they’re all nestled into his mind, into the cracks and crevices of his brain. Dripping through his amygdala. Tunneling their way into his hippocampus.
Painful. Numbing. So ethereally euphoric.
Eternally present in every day of his years alive.
..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::..
Two Months of Age
Poe’s nursery is white. It overlooks a section of the lake behind the house. One window brightly illuminates the space.
The walls are adorned in artful brush strokes, done meticulously by his mother and father.
A blue barber bird struts along the baseboard. Flocks of lantern birds streak across the ceiling. Golden pheasants rest level with where his tiny body lays in a crib.
The birds watch over him when he falls to rest at night. They observe every morning when he wakes. He finds stability beneath their eyes.
One morning, a crown finch begins to nest on his windowsill.
..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::..
Eight Years of Age
His mother is dead.
The crown finch is not.
The bird has returned every year. It comes around April and meticulously builds its nest, straw by straw, the old one having been blown away with the winter winds.
Eggs are lain, babies are hatched, chicks are fed.
Poe watches them from behind the glass, the mother quite unbothered due to the known barrier. She glances at him, eyes dark, rather inexpressive, yet still full of life. Poe twists his mother’s old wedding ring between his fingers as he watches a chick’s beak part in a plea for food, a plea that is soon granted.
He thinks of how precarious the nest looks, perched on the barely six inch wide ledge of the sill, protected from rain and docile summer winds, but not from the long fall.
The next spring, he has his father drill in a larger platform.
..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::..
Sixteen Years of Age
It’s Poe’s first time flying a fighter ship other than his mother’s old A-Wing.
He’s decided that if he had the opportunity to do nothing else other than zip through the skies in this X-Wing for the rest of his life, he would take it.
The height is freeing. The way his body digs into the back of his chair when he accelerates is exhilarating. The way the controls feel beneath his fingers is a feeling that somehow evokes one of home.
Yavin IV is a sea of green beneath him, only briefly interrupted by murky swamps and blue bodies of water. The world that he’d always longed to escape suddenly seems as large as the galaxy itself, stretching into the horizon, disappearing from his eyes, disintegrating into more and more green.
He deftly slows the ship to a crawling pace, barely more than a sprinter’s speed, and opens the cockpit’s bubble. He looks down, the steep drop making his heart rate grow. The air is thin; he feels at peace.
To his left, a dot of pure white stands out against the blue sky. A Cairoka bird, flying alongside him.
Poe’s head cocks slightly as he watches.
The bird peers at him and flies off.
..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::..
Twenty-Three Years of Age
It’s Poe’s first true battle.
The sky is dark as his heart hammers in his chest. All of it is disorienting: the flurry of ships, the sound of cries over the comms.
Birds black in color darken the skies. They are terrified.
They flee the flying hunks of metal, the deafening sounds of blaster shots, the heat of explosions.
Their noises are more akin to shrieks than cries.
They are the only sounds Poe will dream of for the next year.
..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::..
Thirty Years of Age
There’s a sparrow on your shoulder and a dove on your ribs.
That’s what Poe had discovered as he’d undressed you for the first time, as he’d run kisses along your body.
In the aftermath, as he lays beside you, he thinks it’s fitting.
A dove for his adoration of you.
A sparrow to guide him home.
There’s no denying that that’s what you’ve become to him.
..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::..
Eighty-Five Years of Age
Poe’s old now. His flying days are long over.
His back hurts. His mind is not nearly as sharp. The joints in his fingers that had once so expertly maneuvered the controls of a ship now ache.
But he’s happy.
He’s content with the life he’s lived. He’s content with his marriage to you. He’s content with how he spends his days.
The two of you had found a lake home.
In the morning, cranes gather and silently wade through the water. Poe drinks his caf, taking it the same way he has for seventy years.
The afternoon brings the songbirds. They sing and sing and sing, and he drinks up every drop of it. They build nests on the windowsills of your shared bedroom every spring—all with platforms for the chicks’ safety installed.
The evening brings the hawks. They circle above, and he likes to lie in the grass and watch. He often needs your help to get back up.
But he doesn’t mind the pain that lying down to gaze into the sky brings to his back. He doesn’t mind dangerously climbing a ladder to restore a baby bird to its nest every once in a while.
He doesn’t mind doing any of it even as his strength dwindles with the passing years. He keeps up a routine, but he doesn’t deny the fact that old age is catching up to him.
As he lays in bed that night, your breath fills the air. You still fall asleep against him each night, as you had nearly fifty-five years prior.
The etchings of the birds on your skin have inevitably faded with time despite your meticulous care of them. However, they still remain for him to see each day.
He gently shifts away, tuning on his side to face the nearest window, careful not to wake you.
A single pure white Cairoka bird lands, nearly glowing in the night.
His lips twitch, his breath slows in comfort.
Poe knows that when he takes his final breaths, he will see birds.
..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::.. ..::::..
A/N: I honestly wasn’t really a huge fan of this at first, but it’s def grown on me. I just really adore this sort of “one personal motif (or does this count as a theme?? Idk) traced throughout a character’s life” type thing. I’ve actually been thinking of doing this with some other characters I write for (with something else, not birds obv). Idk, would anyone be interested in that?
Also, I’m also about ten away from 100 followers, so thank you everyone! ❤️
Taglist (for everything): @dark-academics-and-florals @theultimateslashgirl @princessxkenobi @djjarins
Taglist (for Poe): @paper-n-ashes @synical-paradox @spider-starry
If you’d like to be added to my tag list, let me know (along with preferred characters) or do the form on my masterlist!
Thanks for reading!
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orionwhispers · 4 years
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Feels Like Home // Bucky Barnes 🍂
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(a/n- ok holy shit ive finally finished my first bucky oneshot. its long as fuck but im so so happy with it. pls let me know what you think. i have lots of requests and peaky stuff coming up as well. love you guys SO much) probs loads of mistakes but its 12k words and im exhausted lol. (also this is inspired by the song feels like home by bea miller and jessie reyez. highly recommend)
warnings: slow burn, friends to lovers, HEAVILY implied smut, so much fluff your dentist will kill me, angst and canon level violence. 
Bucky Barnes had thought a lot about death.
He thought about it often during the war. Wondering if perhaps a bullet would pass through his gut as he ran through the trenches, or a bomb would explode under his feet as he walked across the battlefield. It was everywhere he looked, his fellow comrades bandaged and bloody, the nurses in the infirmary tent smelling of saline and strong, sweet, copper.
He thought about it more than anything with Hydra. Wishing that the torture would send him over the edge, pleading for the sweet release that death would give him. Thinking that what was waiting for him on the other side surely couldn’t be worse than what he was already dealing with.
Even when he moved into the tower, and into a routine with people who understood and trusted him, death had followed him for so long that it was like a friend.
He always thought his death would be something violent; something carnal and savage, almost poetic for him to die the same way that he had lived.
But who would have thought his demise would have been at the hands of the sleepy eyed, honey lipped, gentle girl that made him coffee and brought him raspberry donuts?
You turned his world upside down on a Thursday. He remembers it well, and thinks back to that autumn morning like it’s a picture he keeps in his wallet or a well thumbed book next to his bed. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are - he could be in battle, bloody and bruised, or five thousand miles away from you on a mission in the depths of some town he doesn’t know the name of, feeling himself start to crumble - and the thought of you is enough to steady him, your light luring him back to rationality, his girl.
His sweet girl.
He owed it all to you, and the way you changed his life on that rainy, dreary day and made him realise that home wasn’t a place, it was a person.
The compound was quiet. The Avengers all in a state of limbo; exhausted from hours of travelling, the ghost of bruises and cuts on their knuckles and blood under their fingernails. But more powerful than anything: the red hot relief to finally be back in the tower after two weeks.
The rest of the group fell into their own routines, their own little grooves that they had mastered over the however many years they had been saving the world. The showers were turned onto the highest setting, the smell of Sam’s ridiculously expensive mango shower gel and Nat’s deep, woody body scrub lingering across the floor. Comfort food was made in the kitchen, the throaty sound of laughter and bare feet on the tiles as popcorn sizzled and snapped on the stove. Blankets were draped across the sofas, mugs of hot chocolate and cans of sweet, dry beer passed around and over tangled limbs.
It was something they needed - something they craved. That comforting, warm feeling of family, something so trivial and domestic that it was enough to dull whatever they had been faced with, that for the evening they could think of terrible rom coms and laughter and teasing, rather than civilians dying and the smell of blood and the sound of gunshots. For those stolen moments of happiness after days of heart ache and exhaustion - it was enough.
Well, it was enough for almost everyone.
Whilst the others were arguing over the remote and whether peanut M&Ms were better than chocolate, Bucky was in his room with the lock bolted, methodically cleaning his weapons with surgical precision. He had been at the compound for almost six months, and despite the amenities and luxuries that came with his new home, he felt anything but comfortable.
He liked the people he lived and worked with - and most of them liked him too, but that didn’t do anything to dull the ache in his skull and the uncertainty deep in his gut. After so many years of not being in control of his own mind and body, of having his thoughts and feelings altered by people who saw him as nothing more than a weapon, he was struggling to adjust to his new life.
Amongst all of the chaos though, he had Steve.
The familiar sunshine haired boy that helped ease the storm. His best friend, his brother. The once scrawny teenager that he would follow to the end of the world, all guns blazing, no questions asked. Deep down, he knew that the golden boy was perhaps the only reason he was still at the tower, blending in with all the rest of the wonderful, shining eyed superhero’s around him, making him stick out like a sore thumb.
He knew they thought he could change, but he wasn’t so sure. Sometimes - like the times when he found himself grinning at something Clint said in the back of the jet, or when Nat patted his shoulder in thanks when he covered her in battle, or when he sat on the roof with Steve, talking about faded memories of pin up girls and Coney Island, he felt like perhaps he could be the man Steve thought he was. But then he caught sight of himself in the reflected surfaces of his bathroom, or felt the ricochet of his gun against his shoulder or the blood coating his hands and dripping down into his boots - and he remembered that sometimes people just don’t change.
He listened to the rain as he folded away his weapons that day. Listened to the way the patter of the water muffled the noises of laughter and playfulness coming from the lounge and dissolved into silence. It was too early to retire into bed, and besides, after a mission like the one they had come from sleep wouldn’t be on his mind for a while, his body was still racing with adrenaline.
Then, amongst the patter of raindrops and mingle of voices, he heard something.
A commotion in the hall. His body was finely tuned to pick up anything out of the ordinary, and he could hear the magnetic whir and clang of the elevator as it reached their floor. Everybody was crowded in the living room, which meant it would be somebody from outside the inner circle, and usually that would send cold chills down to his spine, but for some reason this time it didn’t.
Ghosts. Premonitions. Fortune telling. All a load of horse shit to him. He might have been to space and been frozen in time and met some really, really, bizarre people - but there were some things he just didn’t believe in.
Until that rainy day.
It was like a magnetic pull inside of him, when he wanted to lock himself away and not speak to anyone, something inside of him made him want to get up and join the rest of the crew in meeting the stranger.
Even before he saw your face you had him, hook, line and sinker.
So he begrudgingly got to his feet and stood in the doorway, his shoulder leaning against the frame, metal arm out of sight. Steve glanced at him quickly with his eyebrows raised but he ignored him, focusing his eyes on the elevator as it slowly started to open.
Tony looked up suddenly as the doors opened , furrowing his brow at the semi circle of avengers watching him intently. Rather then question it he rolled his eyes, exhaling loudly and stepping forward, gesturing wildly with his arms. “Gather round, gather round, circus freaks. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Because Tony’s personality took up almost the entire room by himself, he had to step to the side for everyone to even get a glimpse of who he was talking about. They waited patiently, with crossed arms and gentle smiles as you stepped out of the shadows.
Bucky felt himself freeze.
You looked so... scared. Not in the traditional sense, not like you were terrified of them or fearing for your life, but the kind of alarm that always trudged through his blood, the feeling of unease and instability, as though you didn’t really belong.
Everybody fell into their roles the way he knew they would. You were young, probably not much older than the Parker kid, and that was why Nat and Steve stepped forward instantly, very protective of you before they even knew your name.
Your hair was mused and loose, eyes wide and lips puffy, as if you had just woken up. You were dressed all in black, baggy clothes and no makeup, your fingers interlocked, your rapid heartbeat pulsing in his ears.
And for some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off of you.
“Everyone, this is (Y/N) (Y/L/N).” Tony said, one arm resting gently on your shoulders, pushing you forward.
Bucky had to stop himself from saying your name aloud, wondering why he wanted to taste it on his tongue.
As everybody spoke, introducing themselves with just enough reservation to make you feel comfortable, your eyes met, and his heart stopped. Your eyes were more white than not, a little glossy and swimming with uncertainty, and he felt the urge to do something, anything, to make you feel even a little bit calmer.
The feeling was so foreign that he stepped back, tearing his gaze away from you, suddenly unnerved. He didn’t miss the way you exhaled, and he pretended not to notice the way his body seemed to pine for the warmth he had felt when your eyes met.
Bucky heard him whisper to Nat, his usually sardonic voice dripping with genuine concern. “Keep an eye on her, for me, please.”
And although he knew Tony would never ask that of him, he knew that without a doubt, he would.
—————————————————————-
Those next few days, you stayed hidden in your room - which just so happened to be opposite his own.
Despite that, he never saw you. Not even once.
You weren’t at any team meetings or debriefings, you were never nestled in one of the chairs in the lounge, never sat on the balcony watching the sunrise or slicing up strawberries and grapes in the nook in the kitchen.If it wasn’t for the small, barely there noises you made every so often, he would have thought you had left.
Through the vents he could occasionally hear the whine of your door and the gentle sound of your footsteps at midnight darting to the kitchen. Sometimes he heard Wanda speaking softly to you, so kind and gentle that he could even hear the anxiety leave your voice for a little while. He’d hear Tony’s loud and obnoxious knock in the middle of the night, the two of you leaving for the lab under the cover of darkness.
Bucky hardly slept. It had never come smoothly to him, slipped through his fingers too easily like grains of sand. He used to train to block out the noise, attacking a punching bag until all he could hear was the steady thump, thump, thump of his knuckles. Steve had taken him running whenever the nights got too long or too loud, sweating out the frustration he felt as they darted through the streets at midnight, but now he found another way to pass those hours in the dead of night.
There was something oddly comforting to him about laying upright in his bed, reading whatever novel somebody had leant him and told him was a classic, listening out for the shuffle of your footsteps from the other side of the hall. He remembered what it had been like for him when he first moved into the tower. He knew how hard it was, moving into a space that wasn’t your own.
So now he found solace under the breeze of his ceiling fan and the slow drip of that one leaky tap that he still hadn’t fixed and the low hum of whatever sitcom you were watching vibrating through the walls.
He liked to make sure that you were safe. You were obviously scared of something, or someone, and it made him feel better that he was keeping an ear out for anything out of the ordinary. He told himself that it was for the benefit of the whole tower, but that didn’t explain the ease he felt in his chest when he finally heard the quiet, even snores coming from your room, and the way that it made his own eyes start to close.
The next time he saw you in the flesh was almost a month after you had moved in.
He was in the lounge with the rest of the avengers that had slept most of the morning away, Sam nursing a cup of vanilla coffee and Steve watching the news as he made some kind of bizarre and disgusting protein shake. Bucky sat on the sofa with his back ramrod straight as he did the daily crossword, something about filling out the empty boxes comforting him.
It was a rare free day and he had slept in a little longer than usual, only falling asleep after he had heard the squeak of your bed frame and the whir of your fan flittering in his ears. When he had woken up your room was still, and he assumed you were still asleep as he headed out for his run, but by the sound of your voice in the stairwell you had obviously slipped out unnoticed, and he couldn’t help feeling impressed.
He perked up instantly when he heard you. He listened to the soft way you spoke against the sharp click of Pepper’s heels against the floor, his eyes darting to the doorway as he heard you approach. He saw the girls first, the three of them flanking you like a security detail. Wanda and Natasha at your sides, Pepper walking slightly ahead; gesturing with her jewellery clad hands as she spoke to you.
You faltered as you stepped forward, eyes widening like a deer in headlights as you noticed the boys watching you from the other side of the room. Sam awkwardly removed his hand from where he had shoved it down a cereal box, waving kindly with lucky charm marshmallows stuck to his fingers. Steve - ever the gentleman - gave you his classic golden retriever smile, greeting you as though you were an old friend.
You relaxed a little at that, and Bucky felt himself deflate. He would never be the most warm and welcoming person, not anymore, and he wondered why that bothered him so much when it came to you.
Pepper gently placed a hand on your shoulder, and you leaned into her touch like a cat. “Boys. You remember (Y/N).”
You looked up, waving a hand that was hidden by your oversized sweater sleeves. “Hello again.”
A shy smile. Big eyes. A voice like melted chocolate. Bucky felt fourteen again.
He wanted to say something to you, but he couldn’t get any words out. Pepper was on a mission though, perching her hand motherly on your shoulder and escorting you forward. “Right. The lab. This way!”
Bucky’s gaze followed you all the way down the hall, not stopping even when you faded into nothingness. He turned slowly, feeling Steve and Nat watching with matching smirks on their faces, their eyes flickering with childish glee.
He scoffed.
“Shut up.”
———————————————————
As the weeks passed, Bucky hardly caught a glimpse of you. He didn’t even realise he was searching for you, his eyes just flitting over the empty chair at meal times or trailing through the gym, wondering if he might make out the bounce of your hair or the curve of your lips.
Not that he had been thinking about your lips. He definitely hadn’t been thinking about your lips.
You had piqued his interest though. He thought of the way he had been when he first moved into the tower, and knew that the first few weeks were always the hardest. You spent the majority of the time in your room, occasionally leaving for Tony’s floor or the lab, but always hiding in the night and the shadows, falling just out of reach before he got lucky enough to see you.
Fortunately, there were enough recon missions to fill his days. He found distraction in snow capped mountains and dry, dusty deserts, searching for old HYDRA bases or intel that might have been missed. His mind was filled with coordinates and strategy plans, and that worked for a little while. Until the jet landed and he found himself wondering if you would be there with the rest of the team welcoming him back, and every time he was left feeling a quick, pang of disappointment when you weren’t.
Eventually though, things started to look up.
At three in the morning, like clockwork, he began hearing your door squeal as you opened it, and then the sound of sock clad feet padding through the hallways. The first time it happened his heart leapt and he jolted upright, convinced that something bad had happened. He didn’t relax until he heard Natasha speak, voice crystal clear despite the early hour.
“You ready?”
He soon discovered that Natasha had taken you under her wing, and was helping you spar at the times you felt the most comfortable - when the rest of the building was asleep. He knew he wasn’t the only person who was curious about you, wanting to know if you had any powers, and Nat had stopped Steve from asking a million different questions about you.
He didn’t want to make you retreat once again, so he left it alone.
Eventually, you started sleeping in, getting more comfortable and leaving your bed much later than before. The others still kept their distance, entering the gym just as you were leaving, drenched in sweat and smiling. The first time that Bucky saw you smile like that was after a run with Sam, and he swore his knees almost buckled at the sight of you, wide eyed and sparkling like a diamond, sucker punching the air right out of his gut.
It was just about dawn when he next saw you, the sun barely risen, the compound bathed in a golden, ethereal light. No matter how many early mornings they had had, the kitchen still smelt like triple shot espresso and cans of red bull every day, sleepy eyed avengers mumbling and grumbling as they fought over who got to use the coffee machine first. Bucky smiled smugly across his mug of instant grounds that Sam had so tastefully called, “disgusting cheap crap,” as his $3 coffee capsule got crushed once again.
Steve made some quick joke as he towelled off his hair from his shower, but his words crumbled into TV static when Bucky saw you coming off the elevator. You were limping, just a little, but enough to make his heart thunder in his chest. You were smiling though, wide and happily. As bright as the full sun, and Bucky wanted to stay in your warmth for a little bit longer. Natasha held onto you as though you weighed less than a newborn baby, and the two of you stumbled towards your room. Before you disappeared you shot a small and hesitant smile at the boys, one that pierced through Bucky like a steel bullet.
He wanted to keep quiet but he couldn’t. Not after he had seen you.
“You don’t think Natasha is being to hard on her?” He said finally, clearing his throat in an attempt to sound nonchalant.
“Why do you care?” Sam had asked, halfway through a breakfast burrito that was dropping more food on his shirt than into his mouth.
“Camaraderie.” He quipped.
“Camaraderie my ass. Remember that time I almost broke my leg sparring with you? You made me walk myself to the clinic.”
“That’s because you were being whiney and dramatic.”
“Oh? Well I’ll tell you what I think. I think that Mr Barnes here is - ”
“Alright. That’s enough.” Steve said finally, cutting the conversation short, knowing exactly where Sam was going with his thoughts and not wanting to put his best friend through any embarrassment about his... interest in you.
Sam gave him a glare that said that the conversation was definitely not over, but Bucky ignored him, his eyes trailing the hallway you had walked through, his belly aching and flipping from the way that you had looked at him, filling him with a warmth that didn’t dim even long after he had fallen asleep that night.
——————————————————————-
Things really started to change at midnight. When the sky went black and turned into a blanket of obsidian and twinkling stars, that was when both of you came alive.
The nightmares were back, and they were bad. Blood. Metal. Rust. The pain that felt as though his bones were snapping one by one. Gasping for air. Sweat. Fists. Gunshots. No longer could he stay asleep listening out for you, his body didn’t want him to feel comfortable, safe, whatever the way you made him feel. He wouldn’t allow himself the luxury of something as sweet as you. He was not a man that deserved good things, and he knew he certainly didn’t deserve you.
The compound was so big and he felt so small in his bed. Sometimes he swore he could feel the walls closing in, even though he knew his quarters were more than triple the size of some of the hellholes he had been trapped in. He needed space. He needed air. And that was what led him to wander the hallways like some kind of spectre as the city roared and thundered and thrived below him.
The rooftop had always been his favourite spot. Tony loved using it for parties, setting up a bar and filling the hot tub with champagne and hiring some idiot to blast stupid music that made Bucky want to smash his head against a brick wall. But it was often just used by the team, swimming laps in the pool and laughing under the summer sun, strawberries and wine in the spring and late night swims in the rain in the winter, making Clint jump in the frozen water naked after he lost a round of poker.
It was one of the rare places that Bucky felt truly safe. Out in the open air, watching the water sparkle teal under the stars, the city so big and beautiful, lights flickering and horns blaring. He came up when things went bad, losing himself in the noise and the ice cold air. He often pulled a chair out to the edge, drinking a beer that had no effect on him but somehow made him feel a little bit lighter, just watching the world go by.
He hadn’t been up there in a while. The nightmares had stopped for a while, incidentally the same time you arrived, but recently they had started to trickle back in, like rain at the end of summer.
He was in a pair of flannel pyjama pants and a henley with far too many holes in, cradling a mug of cocoa with a shot of dark rum as he stepped off the elevator, stopping suddenly when he noticed the outdoor lights shining brightly. He knew that everybody else was asleep, and his field instincts kicked in quickly, until he noticed the soft lilac hue of your satin pyjamas glistening under the moon.
Perhaps he should have left. He knew that you liked to keep your distance and God, did he understand that, but his feet seemed to stay cemented to the floor. You were luring him like a ship to a lighthouse, beckoning him to follow you, and who was he to resist?
You were bent over a row of plants and flowers, watering them from a buttercup yellow can, your fingers stained with mud. You moved gently, tentatively fondling the leaves and petals and clipping away any stray stems and weeds. He watched you with curious eyes, amazed at how something so simple could show so much about your character. After so long of not seeing you he felt lucky to catch a glimpse, and he didn’t want to do anything to scare you off.
That was, until his foot caught the edge of one of the sun loungers.
For a trained assassin, he could really be a dumbass sometimes.
You looked up quickly, eyes as wide as dinner plates, your face just starting to flush. He held up his free hand, all the air leaving his lungs like a balloon. He stepped back to leave you in peace, but then he heard you softly say:
“Wait.”
So he did.
You looked nervous but enchanting, with your mussed hair and fluffy slippers and long eyelashes. You smiled timidly, but warmly, and looked at him. Really looked at him. And something about that made him feel truly seen, for the first time in a long time.
“Bucky, right?” A pause lingered in the air, he was suddenly face to face with you and somehow all of his words dissolved into the night air. You mistook his turmoil for something else, and straightened up, the trowel in your hand spilling dirt onto the floor. “Oh I’m so sorry. Do you prefer James? Or...”
“Bucky!” He said, almost shouting, and then calmed himself down. He could feel a blush rising up his throat from his outburst, but if it meant you would look at him the way that you were, then he would happily embarrass himself forever.
A moment passed, the stars overhead round and full despite all of the pollution in the city air, and for once Bucky didn’t find them the most beautiful thing he had seen.
“What are you doing?” He asked before he could stop himself.
“Oh, um.” You were a little flustered, the apples of your cheeks rounding and your lips twitching up, like you were laughing at a joke he so desperately wanted to be a part of. It was infectious. You were infectious, and the ice cold assassin felt the frost around his heart start to thaw.
“Tony got them for me.” You said, barely meeting his gaze. “After everything.” You stopped awkwardly and cleared your throat. His interest was piqued but he knew better than to probe you, instead letting you ramble. “He thought it would be good for me to have something to take care of. Something to look after, you know?”
He nodded.
“It’s not much, but sometimes coming up here and watering them just takes my mind off of things, you know?” You said, somewhat absentmindedly. He watched as you stroked the petals, pushing your finger into a droplet of water on the leaves. He wasn’t much of a gardener but he recognised a few of the potted plants. Forget me nots, African violets, buttery yellow primrose and icy purple orchids. You had other things too, sweet mint and thyme and rosemary, and budding stems of strawberries and blackberries and tomatoes.
It was amazing how much life you had grown along the usually industrial looking balcony. It was rare to see something thrive amongst the smoke of the city,
“I like it up here too, it’s peaceful.” He said, looking out at the skyline and smelling the crisp, cool air.
You mistook his honesty for an annoyance at breaching his personal space, and held your hands up apologetically. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” You were about to make excuses and leave, not wanting to upset the very handsome man who had occupied far too much of your brain anymore, but he stepped forward and said quickly:
“No! In fact, I er - I think I like it much more now.”
You smiled, and oh boy, did Bucky know he was done for.
———————————————————-
Bucky started to like the nights.
After the first midnight meeting it somehow became unspoken for the two of you to meet up on the rooftop. Bucky never wanted to overstep or make you feel uncomfortable, but he couldn’t stop himself from wanting to see you again in the privacy of the twilight, the moonlight casting gold flecks into your eyes.
It should have been awkward. An ex HYDRA puppet and a girl with a blurry past that had just joined the biggest crime fighting organisation in the world should have found it hard to open up to one another, but somehow that didn’t happen.
You both kept the conversation light, the silences were warm and comfortable, and everything felt bizarrely natural. You’d often be preening your plants and Bucky would be sat on a lounge chair, reading a book and sneaking glances at you. You talked about the city, he told you how much it had changed since the 40’s, and you told him about the crappy apartment with no heating and a nest of owls you lived in before Tony took you in.
Family never came up, it was a subject you danced around and Bucky respected your privacy. He told you about his though, it slipped out accidentally when he saw you preening foxgloves the colour of ripe and juicy plums - and how they reminded him of the ones his mother once had in the window box of their kitchen. Somehow the memory hit him like a sucker punch to the gut, and you expertly swerved the conversation onto something else. It lingered in his mind for the rest of the night, only dimming when he came home from a workout the following morning and saw a little vase filled with purple petals and a book titled “Caring For Foxgloves” left outside of his door.
His smile didn’t fade the whole rest of the day, even through Sam’s relentless teasing.
He remembered you talking about your favourite cafe off campus, and the white hot chocolate and raspberry donuts you would kill for, and took an hour detour from his running route to pick them up for you both to share later that night.
It was amazing, how this girl he only knew through the sounds from his wall was now sitting with him in the early hours of the morning, talking to him like he was a real person and not just some shitty science experiment. You exchanged books, giving him ones that you thought he would enjoy, and he devoured them in less than a week, finding traces of you between the pages.
The two of you never sat right beside one another. You knew his past and you were cautious not to overwhelm him, always leaving generous inches and metres between you both. For the first time in a long time Bucky didn’t want somebody to give him space, he craved those moments when your fingertips would brush as he helped you pot a plant, when your thighs would touch as you leant over him to watch the stars, when he could feel your warmth orbiting him like a planet.
He used to loathe the night time, but now, he spent the whole day aching for the sun to set so he could be with you.
Eventually, as you grew closer with him, you also grew closer with the team, and soon you were joining them sporadically for movie nights and “Friends” marathons and training. You mainly stayed with Wanda and Nat, the two girls sparring with you and showing you the ropes and coming from a place you could understand the best, but you always ended up back next to Bucky - and he loved it.
The rest of the team noticed too. The way that you brought Bucky out of his shell and he helped you to feel grounded. Steve instantly saw that the smile on his best friends face was wider than it had been in fifty years, and he enjoyed watching the two of you together, happy his best friend was happy.
Bucky felt his own change, too. He was no longer a blushing, stuttering mess around you, (well, not completely. He was still a wreck when you smiled at him, or laughed, or did basically anything) but he had found a comfortable middle ground in your friendship, the two of you able to tease and joke with each other like old friends. Finding ways to talk the whole night and day away, watching the sky turn from obsidian to sweet purple and then milky blue, both of you wondering how you had managed to once again miss an entire night quicker than a snap of fingers.
He knew that he was in deep when you got cleared for your first mission.
He remembered waking up, running with Steve, drinking coffee and making eggs, all whilst pretending he wasn’t looking over his shoulder waiting for you every few seconds. Sam came in with a smug smile and stole a slice of toast, buttering it until it was dripping and eating it in seconds, his brow furrowing a little as he watched Bucky.
“What?” Bucky asked, shooting him a curious glance.
“Aren’t you gonna say goodbye to your girl?”
“She not ‘my girl’.” Bucky said through a mouthful of coffee, hating how the words made him feel.
“Oh, right. Of course not. It’s not like the two of you don’t spend every second of every day and every night together, and it’s not like you’re totally head over heels -”
Bucky decided it would be easier to just cut him off, taking his frustration out on the eggs he was now whisking a little too hard. “Why would I say goodbye to her?”
“You didn’t hear?”
He shook his head, suddenly feeling a million tiny needles prickle his skin.
“Bruce signed her off. She’s heading to Madrid with Nat.”
“She’s what?”
That was all it took for him to leave, Sam watching him closely and smirking to himself. Not noticing until it was too late that the pan had started smoking, and the smell of burnt eggs wafted through the air, and Sam was left alone to grab the fire extinguisher and coat the meal in clouds of white foam.
Bucky stormed through the halls, he wasn’t quite sure what his plan was, his mind felt like a bowl of alphabet soup and he couldn’t quite place his anger or frustration, but that didn’t stop him from tearing through the rooms with a face like thunder. He found Tony in the conference room, finalising the mission plans and murmuring under his breath. Bucky feet moved him forward before he could even compute it.
“You signed her off?”
Tony exhaled loudly, and with obvious frustration spun round on his three hundred thousand dollar shoes.
“I was wondering when you would pitch in your two cents.”
“Do you think she’s ready?”
“Yes I do.”
“What if -? What if something happens? What if something goes wrong? What if - ”
“It won’t.”
“What if it does?”
“Look, Barnes. I know you and (Y/N) have been getting on well, and I know that she’s opened up a lot because of you -” He paused, mulling over the distaste in his mouth. “... As much as that might irritate me. But you don’t know what she’s like on the field, she’s brilliant.”
Bucky didn’t doubt that for a second, but his blood was as cold as ice. Missions went wrong all of the time, even a simple recon with Clint ended up with them both littered in bullets, and the mere thought of that made his head spin. He had no real reason to be so overprotective of you, but he truly couldn’t help it, everything in him was screaming at him to keep you safe.
“Are you even sure that...”
“Bucky?” He felt like a scarecrow shoved in a pool of mud, stuck straight and stiff as you said his name and rendered him totally tongue tied. He wondered how much you had heard, and he felt like there was an ice cube trailing down his spine.
“Aha! There she is! Superwoman!” Tony said, clapping his hands together, always knowing how to diffuse the tension.
He turned around and felt his heart jack hammer in his chest. He could see Nat, but his eyes totally passed over her, because you were there: your hair tied up and back from your face, subtle makeup with long eyelashes and syrupy lips, a black and powder pink tactical suit that fit and hugged every curve and bow of your body. His brain totally let him down, short circuiting at the mere sight of you. You looked so happy and healthy and glowing, and also like you could knock him out with a single punch - and good god would he let you.
“Bucky I was erm, I was looking for you. I wanted to say goodbye.” You clasped your hands together, appearing so sweet and shy, a total contrast to the femme fatale you portrayed.
“Natalia!” Tony said quickly, and for once Bucky was grateful for his interruption. “Come and look at this strange bird with me.”
All of you knew it was quite possibly the worst fake distraction ever but you ignored it. Nat just rolled her eyes and followed Tony to the balcony, but not before wiggling her eyebrows at Bucky.
You moved forward tentatively. “I wanted to tell you this morning but I couldn’t find you.” You weren’t quite sure why you were so cautious and apprehensive, desperate to speak to him. You had been travelling and fighting for as long as you could remember, you had spent many years alone and entered the battlefield countless times - and yet, that morning as Bruce gave you the all clear, the only person you wanted to see or speak to was Bucky.
“I was running, I’m sorry.”
You smiled, and it made him smile. “Well I’ve found you now.” You stepped forward, Bucky inhaled air so sharply it almost sliced the back of this throat. “I wanted to say goodbye, and that I’ll see you soon.” You paused, then blinked up at him almost cheekily. “Would you do me a favour? If you have time? Could you water the plants for me?”
He grinned, toothy and white. “Already on it.”
“Goodbye, Bucky.”
He put his hand on your shoulder, and he swore he could feel you melt into his touch, or maybe that was his knees buckling at his stupidity and the way that you were looking up at him. He wanted to say a million things, but instead he settled for: “Goodbye, (Y/N). Be safe, okay?”
“Of course.”
He watched as you packed your things and headed to the jet, the rest of the crew coming out to say their farewells and wish them luck. His eyes were trained on you as you spoke to Tony, nodding your head as you listened to him. He felt Natasha sidle up next to him, her hair shining copper in the sun.
“She’ll be alright, Barnes.”
“I know. But - ”
“I’ll take care of her. Promise.”
“Thank you, Nat. Good luck.”
“Don’t need it!”
Three hours later and he was in the gym, punching out his excess energy. The bag was splitting at the seams, and sand trailed sadly onto the floor. Bucky ignored it, his hits getting harder and faster, his blood pounding in his ears. Since you had left he had taken to pacing the floor and biting his nails down to the wick, hovering over Steve as he spoke to Nat through her wire. He only left when he realised that he was driving everybody else crazy with his obsessive twitching and marching, taking out his frustration on whatever he could rip apart with his fingers.
“Tony’s going to kill you if you break anymore punching bags.” Steve said from behind him, his voice echoing around the dark room.
“Hmph.”
He couldn’t stop. His hands were red raw and his knuckles were scraped but they would heal soon, and he’d go back to tearing them up all over again, anything to get rid of the adrenaline and nausea that had been swimming in him since the morning.
A minute passed. And then two. And then three. He exhaled, pausing, his hands midway in the air. He was about to say what he had always known, right from the second your eyes met that crisp autumn day, and Steve was the only one he could confide in.
“I think I’m falling in love with her.”
Steve hardly even blinked, just clapped a hand on his shoulder, warm and comforting, his brother.
“I know.”
Because of course he did. He knew it from the way Bucky smiled, the way he was lighter, brighter, like you had made him switch on and appreciate the little things around him. He had seen Bucky doe eyed and loopy over hundreds of girls back in the day, he knew how he got, but this... this was something bigger, magnetic, the clash of two electric people.
There wasn’t much Steve could say, he was great at saving people but not so good at the more personal side of things, he still turned into a puddle when Sharon looked at him. Instead he laughed, his teeth white as snow and his eyes playful and teasing. “You got it bad, dude.”
Despite everything Bucky smiled. Because yeah, he did.
————————— ————————————
You came back from the mission unharmed and euphoric.
And the second. And the third. And the fourth.
Bucky still tracked mud across all of the carpets and tapped his feet mindlessly for the entirety you were gone, but he was getting better. Steve had even bought him a joke present of a pear shaped and scented stress ball, but Bucky had ripped it in half when there was gunfire in the background of your coms, followed by an apologetic “Sorry!” from Sam. Bucky had then poured all of the tiny fruit smelling beads under the duvet in Sams bed, and then put all of his toilet paper on the holder backwards, knowing how annoyed he got about it.
Every time you came back you were exhausted and elated and beaming, and after having a nap and a shower you spent the rest of the day with the team, but the nights were reserved just for him. You grew even closer together. Steve had watched from the rooftop doorway gobsmacked one evening when he had left his phone up there, watching the way you two interacted, the way that he curled into your touch, never away from it. You got electric shocks when your fingers touched, you would blush when his knee playfully nudged yours at something stupid somebody had said at dinner, and you found yourself falling asleep to the image of chestnut hair and ocean eyes. You had crushes before, but this was all consuming, the kind of thing that made your stomach erupt in butterflies and your eyes turn into hearts.
You were worried that it might be one sided, but Bucky was totally, completely, smitten.
He watched you. Noticed the way that you smiled and laughed and tucked your hair behind your ear. He thought of the girls in the forties, with their painted lips and curled hair and immaculate clothes, and how you blew all of them out of the water, even in just your flannel pyjamas and bunny slippers. The coil in his belly when he looked at you reminded him of being sixteen and holding hands at the pictures, but that had just been a flicker, and this was a forest fire.
The first mission with the rest of the crew was when things went sour.
He got to see how you acted first hand. The way that you were quiet in the jet, but smiling strawberry red, taking in all of the orders that Steve meticulously laid out, your eyes wide and eager. He watched you as he helped Nat set up the guns and stock the ammo, the way that you toyed with the knife in your boot, the gears in your head turning and working on something he was desperate to discover.
He hadn’t been on a mission with you, not only because they way you looked in your suit and the way that you grinned would have led to him inadvertently getting a bullet in his head, but because from what he had heard, your fighting styles were totally different. Your powers and your skills were a mystery to him, one that he badly wanted to solve, but you kept that side of you hidden and guarded with barbed wire, and he respected that.
You were paired off with Sam. Nat with Clint. Bucky with Steve. Wanda with Vision. It was a simple mission, there was some intel locked in a safe of a seemingly abandoned factory in the south of Russia. Tony had discovered the place crawling with hidden members of a gang that specialised in human trafficking and organ farming, and he needed what was hidden below to help blow it out of the water.
It was going to take a lot of skill. There was no doubt that the enemies would be heavily armed, possibly even with illegally manufactured weapons, and all of you had to keep your heads straight the entire time. He had wanted desperately to be paired with you, to keep his eye on you, (not that you needed it) but he knew it was out of the question. Instead, as you all split up a few miles away in the woods, he grabbed your hand quickly and rubbed his finger across your knuckles, looking at you intently, his eyes swimming with sincerity.
“Be careful.” He said, his gaze locked on yours.
You smiled. “Always.”
He stuck his middle finger up at Steve’s smug face as they headed towards the factory.
Things were going well. As well as they could be when they were covered in blood and sweat and surrounded by the sound of gunfire and cracking bones. Nobody had been hurt so far, the coms quiet as the pairings cleared their sectors and worked their way down to the basement. Bucky had just pushed the last man over the railing and onto the concrete floor below when he heard the crackle of panicked voices in his ear, his eyes darting to Steve.
“Shit! Fuck!”
“Sam?”
“It’s (Y/N)! Fuck! One of them took her!”
“What?” Steve said instantly, switching straight from solider to captain, immediately alert.
“There was too many, it was an ambush!”
“Sam just stay there and - ” Steve tried to keep his voice steady and level, but it seemed as though the walls were closing in. To make matters worse, he saw a blur of black in his eye line, and watched helplessly as his best friend tore down the stairwell, his footsteps a clap of thunder. “Fuck! Bucky!”
Bucky knew that he was going to get one hell of a lecture and probably some six week course in impulse in the force, but all that he could think about was you, his blood was ice cold, his body numb and his brain conjuring up a million different pictures of you that made him feel sick to his stomach. He leapt over the bannister and landed haphazardly on the floor, his gun cocked and ready. His eyes were nothing but jet black pupils, scanning for your face through the halls.
He knew that you and Sam had been working through what used to be the laboratory, and that was on the other side of the building. His legs and arms moved almost mechanically, determined to get to you as quickly as possible, taking out anybody that stood in his way. He could hear Steve calling from behind him, and the sputter of the others in his earpiece, but his focus was on one thing. You.
The men were big and brawny and mean. Tattooed arms and shaved heads and gold teeth. Bucky shredded through them like they wore nothing. He flung them over tables, threw them through doorways and dragged them up by the roots of their hair. They were strong though, laughing at him through coffee stained teeth, loving his anger and desperation.
“Where is she?” He snarled at one particularly vicious thug brandishing two assault rifles.
“Who? Your whore? Dead.”
He snapped his neck like it was nothing but a twig.
He ran from room to room, his boots squealing across blood and stray bullets, his breath as ragged and sharp as glass. Everywhere was empty. Rows of vials and big glass cylinders and cages for animal testing, there was nothing, the place completely ransacked and bare. He hissed, getting ready to fight his way through another floor until he heard exasperated grunts and the clash of metal from a small room off to the side.
He skidded into the doorway with his rifle up at his shoulder, his finger right on the trigger, ready to shoot somebody’s fucking head off. Instead he paused, his mouth agape and his hands lowering, the whole room standing still. There was a freezer. Probably for samples and test tubes and whatever crazy fucking thing they kept in a place like this, but they had used it as a cage, the handles tied with thick copper chains and padlocks. Sam was using the butt of his gun to smash his way through, and they were old and rusty and starting to crumble easily, and Bucky watched helplessly as he finally busted in, clouds of ice puffing around him.
Bucky didn’t know why he couldn’t move. Couldn’t help. But his feet were as heavy as cinder blocks, and his heart was thundering in his ears. There was a small squeal, broken and half hearted, void of anything other than exhaustion, and then the smell of tears and blood, followed by sweet mint and wildflowers. Unmistakably you.
He wanted to run forward and scoop you in his arms, press your head against the crook of his neck and get you far, far away from this place, but he couldn’t move, and so he watched as Sam tugged you into him, running his fingers through your hair, cradling you like a child, soothing you as you cried hot, wet tears into his suit. And Bucky wished with everything in him that it was him instead.
He stayed back as you flew home with Sam. He kept away when you were in the hospital with Bruce, lurked in his room when you went over everything with Tony, locked himself away when you confided in Steve. He felt as though he had failed you, no matter what the others said. He felt as though he had let you down, and the noise you had made when Sam tugged you from the depths of that tiny little box, it played in his head like a warped record, haunting him and his dreams.
For a week he kept to himself. For a week he ran a different route and trained at a gym down by the water. For a week he took his motorbike out to a shitty diner in the bad part of town and ate soggy pancakes instead of having dinner with the team, for a week he did everything he could to not see you, thinking that would ease what you had been through, but instead it left you feeling torn and hurt and completely alone.
Tony made him come in to test out a new reloading system and so he reluctantly snuck down to the figuring range under the cover of darkness. He allowed himself to get lost in the sounds of carnage and the smell of metal, until he heard soft footsteps from behind him.
“You’re avoiding me.”
You seemed so sad, and that made his heart clench.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.”
Silence. That had never been awkward between the two of you, ever, and yet now it was so thick you could cut through it with a knife.
You wrung your hands together, your eyes flitting around the room, never quite landing on his face. That hurt. After a moment you cleared your throat, using the toe of your sneaker to kick up dust from the floor. “Do you - do you know? I mean, has anybody said anything to you? About me?”
He shook his head. “No.” There had been a million times when it was on the tip of his tongue to pry the truth from Nat or Steve, but his respect for you was stronger than his need for answers.
He felt his stomach flip when you finally blinked up at him. You looked as though you hadn’t slept and he knew he looked worse. You were still so beautiful though, looking so young and angelic under the harsh lights and surrounded by all the weaponry. Like a powder pink rose amongst giant, violent thorns.
Unable to stop himself, he blurted out, “I’m sorry.”
“You said that.”
“Not for avoiding you. For letting you - For not being there for you.”
Your mouth was open, brows furrowed as you took in what he said. “What?”
“I should have helped you.” There was desperation in his voice, and he turned to face the targets rather than look at you, not wanting you to see him so weak.
You were silent for quite a while. It was difficult for you to digest his words, like swallowing glass. You had been under the impression that seeing you tearful and cowering and broken had scared him off, had made him look at you differently, but now you knew that he blamed himself. “Bucky...” You said, biting back emotion. “Its not your fault.” Your tone was definite. Strong. You wouldn’t let him feel guilty for something he had no control over.
He brushed you off, shifting his weight, turning playful. “Yeah I know. It was Sam’s.”
You rolled your eyes.
He clicked his tongue. He set the gun down on the table and turned to face you fully, his eyes solid and unwavering. “I am so sorry you got hurt.”
“I wasn’t - I.”Finding the right words was hard. You had so much you wanted to tell him but no idea how to, the sentences sticking to the roof of your mouth like peanut butter. “It was just...Can we? Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“The roof?”
“Yeah,” You smiled, and Bucky swore even the strongest industrial lights couldn’t even match your spark. “The roof.”
Under the stars and above the city as the cars raced and the sirens blared, you told him everything. Growing up as a lab rat, twisted and moulded by scientists and pumped full of chemicals. You told him of finding your powers and being forced to use them for vile things you couldn’t even repeat, and when he heard the tremor of your voice and saw the gloss on your eyes his whole body vibrated and turned a shade of red that it was almost black. You told him how the people that created you had wanted you back, and how Tony had saved you from being taken again, how you owed him your life.
He wasn’t good with comfort. He wasn’t good with words. He was good at tearing people apart limb from limb and shooting them from distances and breaking their bones like they were toothpicks, but for you, he would try. In a move so unlike him that it felt as though he might have been brainwashed once again, he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close.
You froze at first, but eventually thawed and melted into him, grateful for his touch. You had wanted to be close to him since the first time you met but you held back, and now everything felt right, like the missing piece of a puzzle slotting into place. Bucky couldn’t remember the last time he gave someone a bear hug, his nose buried in your hair, his fingers locked around you, desperate to keep you safe. Perhaps it was way back then, a time of uniforms and alleyways and candy floss and city smog, a time he used to long for with everything in him.
But now the memories of the past didn’t even compare to what he felt when he held you.
———————————————————
Everything came to a head on the first mission you had alone together.
Two months passed. Two months of subtle touches and shared smiles and inside jokes. Two months of rooftop laughter and midnight meetings and eating ice cream straight from the tub as you sat under the stars. Two months of utter, dreadful, aching, slow burning, and it was driving everybody else crazy.
Mostly Sam.
“I’m just saying,” Sam had murmured to Steve over chocolate eclairs one morning as they watched you teach a wide eyed, love struck Bucky how to play Mario Kart. “Can’t we just lock them in a room? Force them to kiss?”
“No.”
“It’s just so gross.”
Wanda flicked a grape at him, smiling cheekily as it bounced off his nose. “It’s sweet.”
He cocked a brow and tilted his head, his eyes filled with mild disgust. “Is it?”
Steve flicked through the files in his hand and licked whipped cream from his fingers. “He’s happy. Leave him be.”
“He’s a dumbass.”
“They both are.” Natasha interjected from behind them, wiping sweat from her brow and pulling off her boxing gloves. She was monotone and her face was straight, but even the black widow couldn’t bite back the smile she had as she watched the girl she now thought of as a sister and the once murderous, unbeatable assassin arguing about blue shells on the sofa.
The first mission you had been assigned together was in a small town in the Midwest somewhere. There had been unusual sightings in an airfield in the middle of nowhere, and a fugitive from Germany had been spotted in the bars that bordered the little village. Tony didn’t want to send too many people and blow the cover, just your powers of manipulation and telekinesis to apprehend the subject, and Bucky for added strength and precision.
Initially Tony was hesitant on pairing the two of you together, but there was no denying that you both worked brilliantly together. You understood one another on a level that nobody else did.
Bucky didn’t get nervous before a mission. In fact, he hardly felt anything. He spent the hours in the jet preparing himself and his weapons, going over maps and plans until they were drilled in his brain. But as the two of you took off, you with your rose blossom lips and eye watering suit and soft laughter, Bucky felt a warmth coiling in his stomach.
Apprehension.
You were staying at a cheap hotel a few blocks from the airfield. Tony had thought of everything and booked the two of you in rooms the opposite end of the hall from each other. Three floors apart. Bucky had slipped the receptionist a twenty for the room next to yours. For protection, of course.
Working undercover could be mind numbingly boring. Hours sat in a parked car in the dead of night, freezing to the bone as you watched an apartment from the bushes, trailing a suspect for days on end - but any time with you was a blessing for Bucky, even if it was sat behind the wheel of a cheap car with painful seats and broken heating.
The mission was a quiet one at first, you’d spotted the subject and had been following him, but all he seemed to do was eat crappy diner food and watch hours of cartoons. You both remained a safe distance but you managed to eventually bug his apartment when he spent the evening at a strip club. Tony and Steve updated you often, they had intercepted his phone calls and learnt that he was sending out a shipment late one night, and the two of you needed to stop it before it reached the air.
The rain was torrential when the two of you left the hotel. You smiled secretly to yourself as you walked through the slick streets, noticing how Bucky always made sure you were on the side away from the road, and how he moved so that you never got your feet in puddles. You were in the middle of nowhere following a criminal who spent far too much time eating potato chips and watching Rick and Morty, and yet you struggled to think of a time when you had been more content.
It meant everything to you.
Staying up late to listen into his apartment, Bucky buying practically the entire vending machine, the two of you pigging out and talking about nothing. You had breakfast at diners and communicated at night through knocks on the wall. Whenever you were out and the air was ice cold, Bucky would always move in close to you, his arm brushing against yours, his body your own personal heater. He wanted nothing more in those moments then to pull you into him and warm you up some other way, but instead he kept his eyes fixed forward, and bit the inside of his cheek until it bled.
You arrived at the airfield at midnight. The moon was high and the sky was dark and you both had to crouch low to be avoided by the overhead lights. You saw the suspect speaking to someone on his phone, and not long after a large white van pulled up towards him, the driver getting out and opening the boot.
“That’s it.” Bucky said pointing at the wooden crates. His voice was right by your ear, and you tried to ignore the way you shivered.“You ready?”
You nodded, smiling up at him. “Always.”
What happened next was mostly a blur. The two of you kept your heads down and your hands on your weapons, the pounding of the rain disguising your footsteps. You made it across the tarmac with Bucky covering you, his eyes alert and prepared for any imposing danger. You lifted your hands, ready to snap your fingers and apprehend the man rooting around the boxes, but before you could even feel the warm buzz of your powers through your veins, six men leapt out from the back of the van, guns raised and smoking.
“Fuck. Fuck! It’s a set up.”
Without even a second thought, Bucky pushed you aside. His body totally covered your own, and he hissed and swore, firing back at the bullets rapidly charging at you. You swung your hands and fought back, sending out flickers of fire and air, setting one of them alight and watching as he howled in pain. Bucky shot at everyone he could, sharp pierces right in the skull, always one hundred percent accurate, but his brain was whirring a mile a minute. He was trying his best to keep his eyes on you, his only goal was to make sure you were safe.
It wasn’t like he thought you were weak - far from it. He had seen you out on the field, been knocked on his ass from the aftershock of your powers more times than he could count, and he knew he had no real reason to be so worried but that did nothing to stop the prickling feeling across his skin like a million tiny little flames at the thought of you getting hurt.
You were determined to keep him safe as well though.You tossed back bullets and threw your knife through the air, smiling as it slashed through on of them, leaving him crumpled and crying on the floor. The two of you worked well together, playing off of each other’s attacks and combining your skills to get as many of them down as you could. Right when the last man hit the floor, you exhaled, and Bucky allowed himself a soft smile, looking beautiful and bruised in the middle of a rainstorm.
“Are you alright?” You heard him say, but his voice faded into static in your ears. Behind him one of them had struggled to his feet, blood spurting out from his neck, his face filled with nothing but venom, his eyes wild and vicious. You didn’t even blink, thrusting your hands forward and sending a wave of power through the air.
But it was too late.
He had already lifted his gun, a ripple of bullets flying towards you both. You leapt in front of Bucky, pushing his head down and trying to soften the impact, but his hands curled painfully around your waist, dragging you onto the floor and under him. The bullets missed the two of you by centimetres, piercing into the airplane behind you both. Your surge of power had knocked the man back and he was down once again, his body now pale and lifeless. You could hear your heartbeat in your ears, and Bucky’s. He was fully on top of you, warm and solid and absolutely seething, his chest rising and falling above your own.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“Bucky...” You inhaled, trying to get him to calm down and look at you but he merely shook his head, his body vibrating blood red.
“No. We’re leaving. Now.”
———————————————————-
After the ambush, it was too risky to return to the hotel, and so Steve sent out coordinates for a safe house an hour away. The ride there was completely silent. You didn’t even try to speak or diffuse the tension, you could practically feel Bucky’s anger, and the steering wheel had even started to bend from his grip.
The safe house was a small cottage. The only heat was from a tiny wood burner in the lounge, and the only food on the shelves were tinned peaches and cans of custard. Everything was oddly cosy. Pink knitted throws and round plush cushions and mismatched sofas, dried lavender tied to the wall and exposed brick and white, ceramic milk jugs. In any other circumstance you would have been happy to spend the night, but Bucky’s sour mood was quick to dim your spark.
You sighed as he threw his duffel bag onto the table, angrily heading to the sink and twisting the tab, exhaling loudly at the thin dribble of water that came out.
“Bucky.” You started to say, but he held his hand up as a warning.
“No.”
“Yes!” You snapped, needing him to understand you. “You have to listen to me.”
He dismissed you, too overcome with annoyance to even process your words. You could have died tonight, and you were acting as though it didn’t matter. “You were a goddamn idiot out there.”
“No I wasn’t!”
He slapped his hand on the wooden counter, a slap ringing through the small room.“You jumped in front of a bullet -“
“You almost got shot Bucky!”
“You almost got shot.”
“It was what was best for the mission.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the mission! I only care about you.”
“What?” Your voice was soft. A whisper. You could hear everything around you, feel him before he even stepped forward. Your breathing was shaky, adrenaline spiking through your body. The man you were in love with looking at you desperately and longingly, as though there was a physical ache inside of him.
He shrugged, because what else was there to say? He was looking deep into your own eyes, wanting to drown in them. His face was stern and hard and he was pissed, and yet, strangely, none of what had happened seemed to matter. He stepped towards you, his gaze running across your figure, looking for any cuts or bruises one of those fuckers might have left on you.
“Are you hurt?” He said finally, his face millimetres from your own.
“No.”
“Good.”
He kissed you. His hands went up and into your hair, his chest pressed against yours, his lips were warm and soft and hungry, ready to devour the one thing he had wanted since the very first time he laid eyes on you. You melted into his touch and he smiled. The kiss got more intense, teeth clashing and hands under sweaters and his body rolling against yours. You moaned in his mouth and he bit your lip and your pulses synced and raced and leapt. This was six months of pure longing and frustration and the need to portray everything that had gone unsaid for far too long.
It wasn’t long before you ended up on the floor. You were both too greedy and touch starved to even stop or make your way upstairs, you both needed the other like air, like addicts desperate for another hit. His lips were all over every bit of skin he could find, you lasted like sweat and cinnamon and vanilla and he swore he would give up everything he had if he got to feel you like this, whining and writhing and grabbing him, tugging him closer and kissing him like an angelic little devil.
He had once been a Casanova. He had once made ladies swoon and mothers blush and fathers clench their fists. Then he had been shattered, rebuilt in a way that wasn’t quite right, his body used for torture rather than pleasure. And yet, with you, the rain pelting the windows and your bodies intertwined and your lips tasting like summer strawberries and everything that he had ever dreamed of - he felt whole, for the first time in a long time. The noises you made were sinful, and his thoughts were nothing but you,you,you, the girl he had fallen in love with through the sounds in the wall and with the flowers on the roof, the girl that occupied his brain more than anything else.
Everything was too much and not enough, his head was buried in your neck, your legs were around his waist, pulling him tighter, urging him to go deeper. He had dreamt of this moment for a long time. He had imagined a candle lit dinner and red roses and awkward touches and itchy dress shirts, he wanted everything to be perfect, because you deserved the world. But in the living room of a safe house in the middle of nowhere, covered in sweat and blood and surrounded by thunder and clashing furniture seemed oddly magical for a couple with roots like yours.
After, you were cradled in the crook of his arm, with your hair splayed across his bare chest. Bucky was having a hard time controlling his rapid pulse and heavy breathing because holy shit he had just slept with the girl of his dreams, but one look at you under the moonlight looking ethereal and exhausted and everything else just dissolved into wisps or smoke.
He wanted to tell you in a better way, but he just couldn’t keep it in any longer. His brain was fizzled with pleasure and dizzy with euphoria, and he just wanted, needed you to know everything.
“I’m in love with you. I have been since I first saw you.”
You froze. After a beat, you buried your face into the flesh of his chest, your soft laughter tickling his abdomen, his fingers trailing loosely across your spine. You smiled like a child, looking up at him with big eyes and heart shaped lips.
“God. We’re both idiots. I’m so in love with you too, Buck.”
He grinned, and he felt like his heart might tear in two.
—————————————————————-
You arrived back at the compound with interlocked fingers and matching grins and Sam nearly collapsed with relief. Tony almost went into cardiac arrest.
For the first time in fifty years, happiness followed Bucky wherever he went. Things were easy, light. You were his. You crawled into his arms at the end of a bad day and you laughed into his shoulder and you held his hand and kissed him and killed him and resurrected him all at the same time. He had never felt home in this modern world, and now he looked forward to each day and whatever strange and inane adventure the two of you would end up on. The anvil that had been crushing his heart for so long had started to lighten, and he owed it all to you.
Still, there were hard days. When he woke up slick with sweat with eyes wider than the moon and an urge to wrap his hands around something, or when you thought of the past and became consumed by the memories, tears falling down your face before you could stop them. He got jealous, and he had multiple stern talks with Steve about “not threatening the interns just because they speak to your girlfriend,” you could be stubborn, take on more than you needed, return from a mission with a limp you tried to hide, one that eventually led to an argument about your reckless choices. But nothing ever lasted more than a day. You were always there for one another, with open arms and gentle smiles and the unconditional love that people would kill for.
He had been in a million different situations where he felt like he was drowning. Like something was pulling him under the depths, crushing his lungs and shattering his oesophagus. But nothing compared to how he felt around you. Nothing could match the way you consumed him completely. the electricity that coursed through his veins when your fingers brushed against his, there was nothing quite like the way his heartbeat would slow when you were around, the way that he suddenly felt warm and full whenever you laughed.
He had spent so long alone. He had spent so many years fighting a war he never signed up for, and he was exhausted. He was starved of attention but terrified of exposing himself, and he lived with a chain link fence around his heart. Your soft voice so soothing, the sweetness in your eyes and the innocent bat of your lashes disarmed him better than any soldier ever could. There was something about you - something magnetic, magical.
Your sweetness went straight to his brain. One look at you and his mind dizzied, a sugar rush that only you gave him.
Whenever somebody asked where he was from, he thought partly of Brooklyn, of his mother and Steve, of cobbled streets and dog tags and ink stained newspapers. He thought of darkness. Of being moulded and reshaped deep down in the depths of bad places, of iron and rust and metal, his hands coated in blood.
But mostly, he thought of you. Safe and warm and sweet and so good. How expensive mattresses and dim candles and hot chocolate didn’t make him feel half the way that you did. How you grounded him, calmed him, made everything feel light and coated in sunshine when he had spent so goddamn long being frozen.
So when somebody asked where he was from, he thought of you, because you were home.
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DISCLAIMER :
SMUT SMUT SMUT and FLUFF. (NSFW)
It’s basically a 5k porn smut-shot about dimples and dick. Mostly dimples but there’s gratuitous dicking too, because of course my brain saw a gif set of Mr. Klaus Forbes flashing his dimples and thought PORN.
ALSO,
Nominated for Best Smut Oneshot in the 2020 KC awards
(I mean I have been called an excellent homoerotic muse so I shoulda seen this coming)
Tags:
D/s undertones,
Dominant Caroline
somewhat bregrudgingly submissive Klaus.
——————————————————————————
TREAT AT MY BEHEST
The conversation was flowing smoothly, a little too smoothly, it truly was a sight to behold,
She doesn't find awkward bumps that the participants uncomfortably had to step over stilling the flow, no problematic cracks people either ignored or tried to tear open with their teeth, no blunt blows to the back off the head, or venom tipped words sharper than the fangs the Mikaelson family sported, Hell, even Kol kept his sexual innuendos count to an all time low of two per sentence, and it wasn’t tedious either, it was sunny honest conversation one that flowed and ebbed in tranquil warmth enveloping all those who took part in it.
But of course, the insufferable bastard she’s been calling her husband for the last handful of decades, and her last love for two centuries now, decides he’ll singlehandedly throw all progress out the backdoor.
Her husband, and his freaking audacity to flash those dimples, in that exact way, throw all progress out the backdoor if she’s being more accurate.
God he’ll be the end of her.
It’s no grand truth, that she’s very very closely acquainted with his dimples, and she means, ‘lick a sweet path from dimple to lip as per her wish’ closely acquainted, those perfect indents on his cheeks, make no mistake, they are hers for the taking,
But she admits, she has her preferences, she’s a bit finicky with her interests,
She’s not too fond of his shit eating ‘Yet again I’ve bested you, my love.’ dimples, or any other variant of that he flashes in the rare case he has the upper hand between the two of them.
She’s quite partial to the one sided dimpling the evil villain smirk has to offer, one she’s privy to during their hunts, or the ‘Ive got one word for you: run.’ smirk he displays before transforming into a walking talking guillotine, those are quite entertaining to watch bloom, and the customary thorough debauching of her body that follows any such murder work out is nothing dismissible.
Now the almost bashful and youthfully eager ones he shows her when he talks about his place in the world as an artist, when for once his hand can create instead of destroy, those are entirely just for her, that sit there pretty on his cheeks in the privacy of his studio, where they continue to relive a thousand different times in a thousand different places including Rome, Paris and Tokyo, that one day, when he thanked her for the first of many things he feels gratitude for, her honesty,
He still remembers it as the day he allowed the truth to be something he didn't particularly like for the first time in a long time, she however still remembers the day by the absolute fishing he did, standing there in his studio as he introduced his passions to her, patiently waiting in silent humility for her to notice these paintings were his and compliment him.
He still doesn't allow this truth to remain, she of course always knows better.
Then again she also loves the shy soft little ones he offers her and only her, the ones he gently picks from the buried bounded depths of his heart and places in her hand with such care, as he sweetly leans into her palm, moist plump lips pressed against her pulse. When he is so beautifully hers that the hybrid gold of his eyes is the sun and when directed at her is as warm and sweet as golden honey. Or when he nuzzles his nose into the curve of her neck, the swell of her breast, half laying on top of her, when he gathers her close pauses and then closer, as if he finds the flesh separating them offending, as though his very existence is meant to directly infect her soul unimpeded by skin and bone, as if he means to exist in her and through her, and live only within her.
He’s a bit pretentious with his love.
But she’s told him
‘Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.’
His simple response was to pull her to him and offer his neck,
“Drink.”
She’s never brought it up again,
His devotion for her, his raw thirst for her, it unnerved her at first when she finally decided after
The numerous ‘Sweetheart, they were not bloody staged’ run-ins in every continent she dared to set foot on,
The two times she needed his blood in the century she spent on her own,
The one night she needed his arms and scent to engulf her and his dead heartbeat to soothe her when Elizabeth Forbes passed at age ninety four,
The one time when she realised somewhere along the way between the sporadic meets and witch hunts, the werewolf venom and death counts, the art and music and culture their souls burgeoned to connect, the great cities they carved into their own stars, the languid conversation as they winded through both cobblestones and pink sands, underneath both fluttering snow of and steady stars, the silent moments of equal awe they both shared between the most downtrodden godforsaken places of hunger and poverty and the most lavish heavens, between all the beauty and filth in the world when they only had eyes for each other, amongst the scent of both death and life when they only inhaled a shared breath so sacred they locked it in and never let it out, when seas and continents and words couldn’t keep them apart, when neither his ego nor her stubbornness could count for any importance in the face of each other, when the one time she realised immortality for her wasn't the ungodly number of years she’s left behind still apple cheeked and smooth as milk, but was the ungodly amount of years still ahead of her that somehow always evinced his hand in hers,
When she finally, one balmy faultless Sunday afternoon, in the thick of Thanjavur’s humidity in India, sitting barefoot as per the town’s religious customs on the ground, sprawled carefully in the warm green grass that precedes the entrance of the glorious Brihadeeswarar Temple, that is almost as old as the man occupying her thoughts,
She finally finds her deviously elusive,
Oh.  
moment, proceeded by the
Oh fuck.
Moment,
Realisation hits her with the weight of immortality and her acceptance that there was no other possibility but this, that this has been inevitable for the better half of the last century, carries the weight forward into her heart and fills it with such indisputable finality, that Klaus’s place is by her side and hers alone.
And after that, well, what else was there to do?
After all of that, it’s one knock on his door, and,
“Alright, apparently However long it takes only lasted a total of 113 years, 6 months and 25 days. I thought I’d last longer, but I’m not as stubborn as I wished I was.”
That night was the first time she realised it wasn’t the first time they’ve made love, slow and sweet and beautiful, But it was the first time Klaus with all the vulnerability of a little boy back in Mygradrir who wore a sterling around his neck tight as a noose because his mother loved him so much, asked, mouth against her skin, face hidden in her neck, a whisper that shook in the middle and dissipated at the edges,
“You’ll stay, not just tomorrow, but after?”
“Yes, yes I will.”
That was about two centuries ago, and apparently after did not mean the day after tomorrow.
But she hasn't had too many complaints, she admits the novelty of him has worn off, he’s a bit grating on the edges, the sides and the middle, he’s entirely too insufferable to put up with for an extended period of time, definitely is only enjoyable in moderation and bite sized doses,
But she did let him put a ring on her finger, and also stood there holding his hand as they were bound by a witch in supernatural matrimony, so she can’t really tell it’s wholly his fault, but she apparently likes him too, in addition to loving him, so she’ll stay.
But she digressed a whole lot,
Where was she again?
Yes, his dimples.
Correction, her dimples
Their appearances are continual and each unique situation had one kind assigned to it, but that does not mean they are repetitive, Klaus is many things but least of all predictable, So he presents her with new ones every now and then, dimples she’d like to kiss till they imprint on her lips,
She knows that even if she goes on to live twice the millennium Her husband experienced, and even if every glittering rarity becomes a hackneyed iteration, and every resounding wave of novelty is a mere echo she’s experienced a thousand times, even if there is nothing new as she leads time through this carousel world as the closest thing to omniscient, then she’ll at least know her husband’s smile will always catch her a tiny bit off guard. That she will always take a second to touch it and see it widen even further when she does.
But there was this one single type of smile he flashed from time to time, a rarity in its own right, that one smile basically threw all progress out the backdoor,
The smile is always characterised by the fact that it’s not for her, or for his siblings, or his enemies, it’s for the world, it’s a smile that he never intended to give but slipped out of his hand anyway, and somehow ends up smiling with his entire body, but he’s done that countless times for her, smile with his whole being, she’d say at least twice everyday, usually more, but when he does it for the world, she’s a bit unprepared,
She knows his hostility against the way of the world all too well, it’s why he’s so adamant on dictating it, she knows the millennium of undead life under Mikael’s hatred left him with a tight grip on the world but only because he was hanging on to the edge of it with both hands, his legs dangling, but he doesn’t show it that way, instead phrases it as ‘I had the world at my finger tips, Now I have it beneath my feet.’
He’s a bit flashy with his pretty words, that total honesty to this man is as difficult as love will never surprise her, but the fact that this same honesty sometimes slips out so easily, unfettered and ensconced in peace and content, that does surprise her, like for instance, right now, He’s sitting there ankle over knee, occupying an entire settee with the way he’s sprawled because of course he has to be the biggest being in the room, he needs to know his ego easily accomplishes that for him, holding in his hand one of the thousand sketchpads he’s still kept after paper was no more the norm nor necessity but became a relic of bygone ages for centuries now, and as he sits there sketching god knows what, in the same room as his siblings, their chatter as perfectly idle as a family’s,
He’s smiling, not at her, not to his siblings, hell not even at his drawing, she knows he’s not listening to the conversation, so it’s not something Kol said or Rebekah whined, he’s perfectly uninterrupted in his smile that just bloomed on his face with no given reason, and there as he bows his head a little closer to the page, not because he wants to hide the smile but because he simply wants to see the sketch closer, she knows he doesn't even know he’s smiling, but he is.
So wide and beautiful and honest, and just because, a smile directed at the world, and to think he doesn’t even notice, to know that it’s so whole and full, that there isn’t a place left in his heart or mind to remind him to restrain it.
She knows she’s smiling just as wide too.
God, the things this man does to her heart,
And not just her heart, apparently her body too if the heady arousal that rushed straight to her clit as if a phantom hand rubbed it is anything to go by, because of course, she’s never so aroused by him as she is when he dimples.
TO CONTINUE READING
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If you find this plotless 5k smutshot of my infernal sub Klaus fantasies doing things to you that are best not done in a church parking lot, please feel free to vote for it in the upcoming KCAWARDS under the BEST SMUT ONESHOT category.
Much love and peace
XX
Srishti🤍
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act IV
Genshin Impact | TartaLi/ZhongChi
Summary: It was the way Zhongli’s warm amber eyes suddenly were not as warm anymore. The way he looked at him with a piercing look, void of remorse, as he handed his gnosis over willingly to go on a whole tangent about how his “duties were done”. It was the way he turned and treated the precious traveler with the same amount of kindness and gentleness the Childe had received the previous night, with such ease; it was a look he thought was reserved only for him. It was the way he was able to turn back around, stare at Childe with an unreadable gaze, and walk away without so much of a goodbye.
Or, Zhongli and Childe finally have the conversation that was long overdue.
A/N: I’ve been playing genshin for roughly four or five months now, I can’t remember exactly when I started, but boy do I love it. No you don’t understand, I’m obsessed. But these two have been taking up room in my big brain, so I wanted to write for them. It’s been awhile since I wrote for pleasure so hopefully this is satisfactory :,) and tomorrow, I’m back to school, so I thought I’d enjoy my last day of freedom and post this today. Fun fact, I’m minoring in professional writing, so I’m hoping that it’ll improve my writing skills when I write for luxury, too. Anyway, this was a really fun piece for me to write and I hope you share the sentiment.
Also thank you guys for being so patient with our inactivity and just being such a chill audience to write for. Other social media platforms have become so...demanding haha. I appreciate y’all! Feel free to message us or talk to us about whatever :) -u.n.
Find this on AO3!
Spoiler alert: this fic does contain spoilers for the A New Star Approaches arc, so read at your own risk.
In Childe’s line of work, he is no stranger to betrayal.
Working as a Fatui Harbinger meant an unhealthy amount of fighting, betraying one person, deceiving another, and then on occasion, getting betrayed himself. It was all in a days’ work. Childe knew he would just have to roll out his neck and move on. He’s done it before, he can do it again. He would think that, after nineteen years of this grueling rinse and repeat, that he’d be able to tolerate a lot in the field. In fact, working with that wretched colleague of his, Scaramouche, and serving the Tsaritsa with a loyalty unmatched explicitly calls for the patience and tolerance of a saint.
Alas, Childe is the furthest thing from a saint. And still, Zhongli’s betrayal stung the most out of anyone else’s, the reason still unbeknownst to him. He tells himself that it’s because he had actually befriended the other man. That, unlike his other missions, he developed more of a friendship with Zhongli than he has with anyone else in the past. Not to mention how he really thought he’d find the gnosis, in all its golden glory, seated deep within the Exuvia, and not within his friend.
Which is why after he watches Zhongli hand over his precious gnosis to Signora of all people, Childe makes haste to return to the inn he had been staying at to furiously pack his things and leave first thing in the morning. Seeing Signora in Liyue so close to Zhongli had triggered a deep seated feeling of possessiveness over him and the city. Liyue was his territory, as far as he was concerned. It was assigned to him by the Tsaritsa and no one else. And yet, despite his unspoken possession over Liyue, its people turned against him and viewed him as the enemy. As if Childe didn’t already know that. As if he hadn’t already grown up with a layered villain complex, subconsciously looking for a fool with a hero complex to match him. Then entered Zhongli, making himself at home in Childe’s life, and he was immediately enamouring the Harbinger.
Screw Liyue.
Screw all their traditions, the stupid glaze lilies, the delicious cuisine, the obvious livelihood that fills the streets in stark contrast to his own icy hometown, screw all those goddamn unnecessary mountains, that fish market with that abhorrent smell he gradually got used to, and screw Rex Lapis. Screw Zhongli, that handsome bastard, for stringing him along like his plaything the entire time.
Childe knows, he gets it, that Zhongli simply did what he had to do because it was best for his people. And what other way for the oldest of the seven to go, if not for a grand finale? And yes, Childe admits, luring out Osial was a stupid move, but it certainly served its purpose for testing the strength of Liyue and its defenders.
Zhongli and Signora knew he would do something stupid and reckless as soon as he caught wind of the Exuvia serving as a decoy. They knew, and they played the game so well, that Childe really thought he was the mastermind puppeteering the whole show.
What a fool he was made out to be.
Childe aggressively shoves blazer after blazer into his travel duffel, angry, pathetic tears pooling at the corners of his eyes without his consent. He sniffs angrily and swipes at his cheek as soon as the first tear falls.
Fuck this, he’s not crying over a god, he still has some dignity.
But still. Pride aside, it hurt. And it wasn’t even necessarily the deceit that hurt the most. He’s dealt with that previously. It was… more personal. More of an internal struggle than an external issue. Childe truly hates those the most. At least he can shove his fist through any external problem, but he can’t exactly do the same with his feelings, or whatever they’re called.
It was the way Zhongli’s warm amber eyes suddenly were not as warm anymore. The way he looked at him with a piercing look, void of remorse, as he handed his gnosis over willingly to go on a whole spiel about how his “duties were done”. It was the way he turned and treated the precious traveler with the same amount of kindness and gentleness the Childe had received the previous night, with such ease; it was a look he thought was reserved only for him. It was the way he was able to turn back around, stare at Childe with an unreadable gaze, and walk away without so much of a goodbye.
The same eyes that gazed at him with such affection and kindness were suddenly replaced with the eyes of a soldier. And it was only then that Childe fully realized the force he was reckoning with. Zhongli was a withered god who lived too long for his own good. A powerful deity that held the ability to shake the ground with a look; he who had been humbled by time and his sharp edges eroded by the millions of faces that passed him. Simply put, Childe was just another one of those faces. And again, he understood. If he lived for six thousand years, he wouldn’t want to be alive after the first hundred.
It was the duality that dug the blade deeper into his already bleeding chest. He felt used.
“I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve spent together, Childe,” Zhongli had said to him on a warm Liyuen night, “a friend of mine, a long time ago, told me that I was… bad at connecting with people. Emotionally stunted, is what she called me. And she is correct, as I have definitely struggled with making connections in the past. But with you… it’s different. It’s easy.
Childe is thankful for the discretion that night provides him; Zhongli would have easily spotted the blush spreading across his pale cheeks had it been daytime.
“So you had trouble making a couple friends, so what?” The ginger shrugs, “I wasn’t the best at making friends, either. My mom always said I was too aggressive. Apparently that’s not such an appealing trait, after all.”
Zhongli chuckles, a beautiful sound. “It was a bit deeper than that, I’m afraid. Understanding the complexity of another’s emotions was always difficult for me, whereas she… she was loved by everyone. Adored by the youngest of fawns to the oldest of horses. It came so naturally to her. I was the opposite. Not that everyone hated me, no, people just had a harder time getting close to me. Which is why, upon meeting you, I was shocked to find that we clicked so well. Befriending you was as easy as breathing air.”
Oh, Archons, help him.
“And,” Zhongli continues, as if he hadn’t already wrecked the man six ways to hell and back, “I must sincerely thank you for indulging me once again.” The deity glances down at the bag full of antique trinkets in his lap. Childe’s lips turn upward into one of his more genuine, rare smiles.
“What’s with you tonight?” Childe responds, and Zhongli looks at him questioningly , “I mean, you never had a problem with me spoiling you rotten before. You’ve never even acknowledged it. Why start now?”
Zhongli tears his gaze away from the Harbinger.
“And,” the ginger continues, “it almost sounds like you’re saying goodbye.”
Zhongli smiles at him then. He wore a kind look on his face, eyes so impossibly warm that it reminded him of his grandmother’s pirozhki. Hot and steaming from the center, melting on his tongue, dissolving deliciously in his mouth and defrosting his entire body. His smile felt like it wrapped itself around his chest and squeezed the best way possible, fitting him back together in places Childe didn’t even realize he had broken.
“What makes you say that?”
Oh, Childe is pissed.
Fuck tomorrow morning, Childe is leaving tonight.
The memories of last night crash over him not unlike a tidal wave and suddenly, he’s drowning. Filled out the brim with a familiar rage burning through his chest and searing his finger tips, his legs, his fucking toes.
He stands abruptly when he realizes he’s been sitting and resumes his packing. It doesn’t take very long after that. A couple toiletries get shoved into the side pockets, his vision is hooked back onto his hip, and his mask is slid into its’ usual spot on his head. He looks at himself in the mirror on the way out and scowls at the way his hair looks more disheveled than usual. Red rims his dulled blue eyes, forcing him to accept that maybe he cried more than he’d like to admit. Whatever.
He swings the door open and-
“Childe,” lo and behold, Zhongli stands in his fucking doorway, “I’d like to talk to you, if that’s alright.” The man looks slightly disheveled. He’s a little out of breath, Childe notices, like he ran up those ridiculous flights of stairs to get to his room- which, by the way, he never disclosed that information with him.
The man in question huffs a laugh. “It’s not.”
He makes a move to brush past him, but is stopped by an unreasonably strong grip around his bicep.
“Tartaglia,” he pleads, “please.”
Childe snatches his arm back and spits, “don’t call me that.”
He retreats back into his room anyway, hearing Zhongli close the door behind him. He dumps the bag back onto his bed and curses himself for not leaving a millisecond earlier.
“You’re angry with me.” Zhongli starts, face as unreadable as ever.
“The sky is blue. Snezhnaya is cold. Are we still stating the obvious here?” He’s too angry to carefully choose his words. Too hurt to slip on his pleasant facade.
“Tartaglia,” he presses, and Childe really hates how his name sounds on his tongue, “I truly am sorry for the way things had to go. It was not in my intentions to… hurt you to the degree in which you feel. I simply was upholding the end of my contract and doing what was best for my people. I implore you to believe that making you feel used was not my main objective.“
Oh god, his apology sounds so robotic.
“So you’re aware that what you did was a little fucked up.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re aware that almost the entirety of Liyue places the blame on me.”
“Yes.”
Well, shit. “Good talk, Zhongli-xiansheng. If you’ll excuse me, I must begin my trip home.”
He stomps toward the door only to be stopped once again. Archons, if Childe had any motivation left, he most certainly would challenge him to a spar. The ginger huffs, and looks to the heavens in a silent plea for patience.
“Tartaglia, please, I’m not finished-“
“Yeah, well I am.” Their eyes lock. Blue meets gold in a hostile hold, refusing to break. “The second you handed your gnosis over, my business here was done. Whatever… relationship we had is done. You were my consultant and was a Harbinger here for business. A Harbinger that you obviously used for your disposal. So now that that’s over and done with, I really need to report to Tsaritsa, lest she have my head on a silver platter-“
“I spoke with Tsaritsa already.” Zhongli cuts in, his grip tightening around Childe’s wrist. “I asked her for more time with you.”
“You what.”
“Surely you are curious about the deal I struck with Tsaritsa. The contract to end all contracts, yes?” Childe’s wild look on his face eggs him to continue, “I struck a deal that granted you more time here in Liyue. With me.”
Childe is silent for a moment. The ex-Archon opens his mouth to continue.
“And I’d like to say I’ve known you long enough to know that you seek freedom. From what that may be, I do not know. But Tsaritsa has agreed to give you a choice, at the very least, a temporary one. An extended vacation or complete retirement is a choice to be made by you.” Zhongli finishes, looking to Tartaglia with hope.
“THAT is worth your fucking gnosis?!” Zhongli’s gnosis. The entire essence of his being. The very thing that makes him divine (thought it certainly isn’t the only thing that makes the man ethereal), was traded for him.
“Yes,” Zhongli replies with such ease it makes Childe’s head spin. “Among other things, of course.” An aggressive why is lodged in the back of Childe’s throat. Why me? A million questions swirl around his head, knocking him off balance. He would have swayed on his feet had Zhongli not been there to hold him upright.
“That’s insane. You’re insane. You…” Childe lets out a tired sigh, “I don’t understand you.” And he doesn’t. Because one minute he’s a cold hearted businessman, and the next he’s at his door, reduced to a mortal, begging him to stay. Granting him freedom. Really, what kind of fucked up game is this? Why didn’t anyone tell him he was a part of it?
Zhongli smiles. He smiles. “You remember our conversation from the night before, yes?”
Childe rolls his ever-blue eyes to the back of his head. “Remind me, Zhongli-sensei,”
“I said,” the deity starts, drawing both of Childe’s calloused hands between his own, “that I struggled to connect with others. Guizhong, the Goddess of Dust, was the one to bring to my attention my emotional constipation. And like I said, she was correct.”
Childe’s anger withers.
“Unfortunately I understand naught of the depth of your feelings of betrayal,” he continues, “but I do wish to understand how deeply humans feel. And in our time together, I’ve begun to understand through you. Despite your… complexities. And I wish to continue to learn. With you.” I wish to feel human is left unsaid, and laced between his words instead.
“What are you saying,” the Harbinger asks weakly.
“Take me with you.”
“What.”
“Take me with you. Wherever you go, I will follow, if you will allow it.”
Well duh, he’d allow it. Zhongli just had to work for it a little more. He can’t just waltz in here after breaking his heart and ruining his trust, demanding his friendship and companionship or whatever, after everything he was put through-
“Okay.”
Very nice ass to mouth filter, Ajax.
Zhongli’s eyes glow impossibly brighter, “Okay?”
Childe tugs his hands back to his side. “Yes, yes, fine. Whatever. But you can’t just. You can’t just use me again in the name of experimentation.”
“Tartaglia, I would never,” he assures him vehemently, “Of the seven, I was always the one most oblivious to emotions. You may ask Barbatos if you want. But I know that what I feel for you is real and I would not trade it for the world.”
Childe’s mind reels. Barbatos? Feelings?
“‘What you feel for me?’”
Zhongli cocks his head in confusion, as if his feelings were the most obvious thing in the world. “Well, yes. And you feel the same, no? It need not be said aloud.”
“It really doesn’t,” Childe affirms, “you can save me the embarrassment.”
“Wonderful,” Zhongli’s face brightens, and it’s only then that Childe is hit with the full realization that Zhongli is free. No longer is he tied to the city and burdened with the weight of the people. No longer does he have to associate himself with the likes of the Tsaritsa. Finally, after centuries and centuries, he is allowed the pleasure to smile so brightly despite feeling pained for finally leaving his people. He is Zhongli, and no longer Rex Lapis. Morax is long gone, too. The man before him is a man reborn, and Childe’s heart aches with happiness for him.
“Okay, well,” he clears his throat when he notices he’s been quiet for too long, “it’s been a long day and I’m tired. I think I’m just gonna take a shower and turn into bed and think about the rest tomorrow. Save it for future Childe, you know?”
He pads over to his hastily packed back and zips it back open, pulling out the toiletries he aggressively shoved in less than an hour ago. He digs his fingers into his neck and sighs at the release of tension. Summoning an angry ocean god took a lot more out of him than he anticipated.
“I agree,” Zhongli says, and begins to strip. “Personally I prefer the left side of the bed.”
Childe gawks at him.
“You-!” Truly an emotionally constipated god, indeed. He sighs and his shoulders droop, the fight leaving his body. “Fine. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be out in a bit.”
“I eagerly await your return,” Zhongli comments passively as he slips under the covers, a book he didn’t even know he was carrying tucked under his arm. Childe sighs for the nth time that night and turns to close the bathroom door behind him.
Future Childe certainly has a lot to deal with in the morning.
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stubbychaos · 4 years
Text
Princess
Summary: You and the Mandalorian relax and reflect after a long and tiring job on Cantonica.
Rated: Explicit for sexual content and language.
Word count: This was supposed to only supposed to be 2,000 words and it somehow turned into 5,700 because I wanted more chemistry between reader and Mando lol. There’s obviously an established relationship between them and I just wanted to, y’know, expand a little on that bc I’m a hopeless romantic.
Warnings: Brief mentions of reader being harassed by Burg. Other than that, this is mostly fluff and smut lol
Notes: This is literally the first time I’ve ever really written smut that I’m somewhat happy with and even though I’m terrified of putting it on Tumblr, I sincerely welcome any advice or constructive criticism. I just ask that you keep your comments somewhat polite because I’m a sensitive bitch lol. I have like half of a second part outlined if you guys want another chapter of this <3
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You aren't sure where the sudden surge of audacity comes from as you and the Mandalorian make your way onto the Razor Crest after a long day of work on Cantonica. 
You watch as he gingerly tucks the little one into his secret little cubby and closes it so he can sleep more peacefully; your heart swells in your chest at how gentle he always is with his foundling--his son. The sun is now setting over the horizon and a cool breeze wafted into the hull of the ship, causing your dress to flutter a little, ultimately exposing your thighs through the long slits in the dress you wear. Your long waves tickle your collarbones and you’re not used to exposing so much skin, the wide, dipped neckline coming to a stop right at your sternum. Despite the cool breeze that intrudes the normally stale atmosphere of the Razor Crest, your skin feels like it’s on fire as he turns to gaze at you through that unforgiving Beskar gaze, his eyes undoubtedly taking in all of the exposed skin that you only ever let him touch.
The beautiful dress you’re currently wearing had come in handy for a job in Canto Bight where the Mandalorian had been asked to capture a quarry that owed over a few thousand credits to an owner of a wealthy casino. It was the kind of job where you and the green bean had been dragged along for the ride, not having the choice of staying on the ship because Din had deemed it too dangerous to stay on the Razor Crest in such a populated city. It wasn’t often that the notorious bounty hunter urged you off the ship whenever he took a new job, but whenever he asked you to follow him to whatever destination his bounty was currently residing at, you knew it was imperative to listen to the Mandalorian. 
The quarry he’d been hunting all day enjoyed frequenting a high class casino and while your Mandalorian’s Beskar armor already established him as a wealthy, notorious hunter--despite living from paycheck to paycheck most of the time--the flimsy fabric of the thin black tunic and leggings you usually wore weren’t up to standards with what an established woman should look like in a wealthy city like Canto Bight.
The thought of you trying to be an ‘established’ woman nearly makes you giggle, knowing damn well that there was nothing established and respectable about a young woman traipsing through the galaxy with a bounty hunter and a green toddler with astounding abilities.
You were sure you would never be Canto Bight’s expectation of a wealthy woman.
Not that you or Din cared, but that being said, you both knew you needed to blend in and he had surprised you months earlier with a dress that he had bought for you when they had been on Brentaal IV after a close call with a few Imps trying to take down the Crest. He had seen you eyeing the beautiful white fabric in the marketplace, tracing the hems and jeweled straps with admiration, though you had refused to buy it, insisting that you needed to save the credits for the baby and ship repairs. Realizing that you hardly ever spent your credits on little things for yourself, the Mandalorian had told you that he had some business to take care of and would meet up with you by the twilight hour--your favorite time of the day, no matter what planet they were on.
Needless to say, you had been in tears when you found the dress on your stiff cot later that night.
“Thank you for the dress,” You murmur and slowly approach him, stopping halfway when you finally notice the way he lowers his helmet with a slight tilt and you know he’s gazing at you attentively, “You never told me if you liked how I look in it. Do you think I look pretty in it, Din?”
He stares at you through the safety of his visor and you nearly rip off his helmet right then and there, though you restrain for the sake of whatever flushed expression he’s currently wearing on his scruffy face.
The white dress is pretty simple and falls to your ankles, slits going up to the middle of each thigh; the neckline of the collar exposes more cleavage than what you are used to and had been embroidered in a beautiful yellow floral pattern by a talented seamstress. Shimmering gems had been carefully sewed in the center of each yellow flower that seemed to shine brighter with the golden rays from the sunset that bathed you in its ethereal light. You had seen him glancing at you periodically throughout the evening and it wasn’t until the third time a man came up to where you had been standing at the bar--your eyes carefully scanning your surroundings as you held the curious green bean--that the Mandalorian decided to put you out of your misery and come to your aid. You had jumped a little upon feeling a familiar, leather-clad hand on the small of your back and was surprised to find that his helmet was tilted downwards a little more than it normally was when he would look at your face.
You wondered if he had been looking at your cleavage and the thought had you blushing the whole night.
“You look...” The Mandalorian lets out a strange noise that sounds garbled through his modulator and you hope it’s because he’s overwhelmed in the most pleasant way by what he sees through that emotionless visor. Typically, you weren’t one to fish for compliments, especially from him because you know that the normally stoic bounty hunter isn’t the best with sweet words, doing most of his talking when he has his head between your legs or his cock buried deep inside of you.
Most of what he usually says is either incoherent babbling or hushed compliments in his native tongue, not that you ever mind his inept way with words when it comes to certain matters. Something about watching a fearless Mandalorian--someone that most felt an overwhelming sense of fear just upon sight--getting nervous when talking about his feelings or giving you compliments always reminds you just how human he was.
He was endearing without even realizing it most of the time.
Your scruffy Mandalorian had shyly admitted numerous times in the year and a half you’d been working for him that he found you to be physically beautiful, but the thought of someone genuinely finding your personality and soul attractive made your toes curl and your cheeks heat up. The intimidating bounty hunter always insists that you meant a lot to not only the kid, but to him as well, and even though you had been initially hired to take care of his foundling, you found yourself taking care of the reckless bounty hunter as well. 
Where once he would begrudgingly admit he didn’t need your help, he slowly started to cave in and grew warmer towards you whenever you would bring him a warm, cooked meal to the cockpit, rather than a cold ration bar. Gratitude would fill his voice whenever you would treat his wounds with soft hands, numbing gel, and precise stitches if they were out of bacta, rather than making him take care of it himself with an old cauterizer that caused him unnecessary pain. Instead of constantly feeling exhausted because he rarely got to sleep consistently before you showed up, he taught you how to pilot the ship and would let you take care of navigating the Crest while you took care of his mischievous foundling so he could get some rest after a particularly rough job.
He always insists that you need to look after yourself more, but you’ve never had a family of your own and you want to take care of the tiny clan that the Maker had for whatever reason blessed you with.
You want to take care of the man that had given you a job when you had been at your lowest, along with a sense of purpose and hope for the future.
You want to take care of the only human being that has ever truly loved you.
Din makes his way closer to you, his footsteps slow and he seems to hesitate before he takes his gauntlets and gloves off and lets them fall to the floor with a loud clunk; you’ve been with him for so long, yet he still sometimes fears he’s going to accidentally hurt you, as if you were made of cracked glass. A bare hand reaches out for you and you feel courageous and beautiful as you stare up at him, shivering with delight when his calloused fingers brush along the thin strap that had kept falling off your shoulder all day and evening, his palm moving up to cup your jaw with the utmost softness instead. He leans his helmet down a little when you stand on your tippy toes, a smile spreading across your lips when you feel the cold press of his Beskar forehead against your bare one--a Mandalorian’s version of an affectionate, tender kiss--and the two of you remain like that for a few peaceful moments.
“May I?” You murmur politely with a tilt of your head when your fingers cautiously curl under the lip of his helmet, only lifting the heavy Beskar off his head when he nods his approval with a small chuckle, making you pout a little. Despite being his wife and owning the privilege of seeing his face when you two are alone, you can’t stop yourself from always asking him if you can remove his helmet and armor, or instinctively closing your eyes when he removes himself in the cockpit or his private quarters. You had convinced yourself for such a long time after being hired by him that you’d never see the stoic Mandalorian’s face, let alone watch him bare it willingly to you.
How he had certainly proved you wrong about that.
Stars… he always seemed to surprise you and you loved him even more for it.
Thinking about it now--given everything you two had been through together--you find it funny that you had once been intimidated by the fearless bounty hunter and had struggled to even meet the expressionless gaze of his helmet. For at least the first month, you would merely stare at his shiny cuirass whenever he would ask about his foundling after he would come back from a job, only answering in a meek voice until he seemed satisfied. Suspecting he wasn’t much of a talker, you were more than happy to sit in silence in the hull of the Crest, just past where he kept bounties in carbonite, and you would only venture up to the cockpit to put the child in his pram or give your boss a warm meal.
It wasn’t until the Mandalorian had defended you against the terrifyingly huge Devaronian, Burg, and the rest of Ran’s band of misfits that had been assigned to help Mando on a job, that you found yourself trusting him more.
Your face grows warm as you remember how furious Din had been when he’d climbed down from the cockpit to find you backed up into a corner near the armory, shaking with fear as the Devaronian inspected you with a massive hand painfully squeezing your cheeks hard enough to bruise your sensitive skin while the rest of the team cruelly taunted you. The Mandalorian had immediately expressed his anger--his fury--as he easily ripped the massive man away from you, slamming him into the metal ladder before crushing him into the secret compartment where he normally kept the child hidden against unwanted visitors. 
You remember how frantic he had sounded when the group eventually departed the ship, his voice only softening when he noticed the tears in your eyes and the shame burning bright in your red cheeks as you weakly apologized to him, though the shame belonged to Burg--something he would later remind you of after having a bad nightmare of the whole incident. At the time, Mando had merely shaken his helmet at the tremble in your voice before urging you and the child to stay in his private quarters, despite you never being allowed in there.
He had left you on the ship with the untrustworthy droid, but not before cautiously cupping his leather palm to your sore, crimson cheek, your eyes finally meeting his visor for the first time as his thumb traced your cheekbone and the gentle slope of your nose with a pleasant touch that was far softer than the ruthless Devaronian’s.
You found it easier to look at his helmet after that, finally trusting the quiet Mandalorian after he had physically shown how protective he was over you two.
“Ner kar’ta,” Din breathes out before leaning down to press his lips to yours and you immediately melt at how he always kisses you so passionately and slowly after taking his helmet off at the end of the day, like a moon slowly beckoning gentle waves to a sandy shore. You briefly wonder if he’s the ocean and you’re his moon, lighting up his dark, endless nights and you know he wouldn’t hesitate to cause destruction and chaos if you unwillingly disappeared or someone dared to even think about harming you
You shudder when he moves his other hand to the Beskar pendant that hangs between your collarbones and you listen to the soft sigh that leaves his modulator at the implication of the familiar, mudhorn signet that shows the galaxy that you belong to his little clan. In a similar gesture, your hand finds his pauldron as he gazes at you with intense reverence while you carefully trace the outline of the signet as if it’s going to break despite being made of Beskar; you don’t even realize you’re smiling so fondly, tears threatening to burn your eyes.
‘The Djarin Clan…’
This was the only family you ever had and he reminded you nearly every day that even though the green bean wasn’t theirs by blood, it made him no less of a son.
‘Aliit ori'shya tal'din…’
You never doubted him for one moment.
Din seems a little startled when you gently grab his wrist, his helmet tilting up a little to look into your eyes through his visor, probably worrying that he had already done something wrong even though he’s merely grazing your collarbones and shoulders so tenderly.
He doesn’t seem to realize that you want more and you know it won’t take long to get him to be a little rougher with you--just the way you both enjoy it after a particularly taxing job.
A strange, delighted noise comes from the back of his throat when you firmly guide his hand lower, his fingers splayed wide and you feel your eyelids flutter a little when his calloused fingers graze the swell of your breasts underneath the beautiful dress. The two of you both let out a little moan when you gently maneuver his hand further down underneath the scooped neckline until his rough hand is firmly palming your breast. Immediately, your nipple peaks from the familiar sensation and he tilts his heated gaze to regard the half-lidded, blissful expression on your flushed face.
He can sense the yearning rolling off of you in waves and you know it by the way his thick cock twitches against your thigh.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes,” He groans, not sure whether you are talking about the dress or your body, but he doesn’t seem to care at that moment, only saying what comes to his mind, “That dress is… you’re an angel--with or without it.”
“Something tells me that you prefer to see me without it.”
“It doesn’t matter to me what you are or aren’t wearing, mesh’la,” His voice is barely there and it almost sounds similar to the occasional crackle that leaves his modulator; you can’t help but to squeeze your thighs at how raspy he sounded, “I fucking want you all the time.”
Slowly, you brush the thin straps down your shoulders and arms, not tearing your eyes away from his face as the swishy material pools at your feet and leaves you vulnerable in front of him.
The first time he’d seen you like this, you had felt self conscious and had tried so hard to cover yourself from him, not sure if he would like what you had to offer.
Now, as he lowers his head a little and stares with half-lidded eyes at all of the flushed skin he wants to explore with his fingers and his mouth--despite memorizing the map of your body long ago--you feel like the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. Your body is completely nude, save for the tiny white shorts that leave nothing to the imagination and the pendant he had given you long ago that rests between your collarbones. 
His rich brown eyes meet your sparkling ones before flickering up to the silver circlet crown that rests loosely around your head, the beautiful metal adorned with jeweled stars and a crescent moon that rests against your skin just inches above the center of your brows. A matching armlet that he had gotten for you as a late birthday present was wrapped around your bicep, the diamond encrusted stars shining brightly in the remnants of the vividly rose gold sunset that filters into the Crest. You had been mad at him at the time for spending his credits on something so materialistic, though he insisted that he had more than enough credits after turning in a high class criminal with a hefty price on his head.
You never took the beautiful gift off and it always warranted unrelenting teasing from your partner. 
“Never gonna get tired of you. So beautiful, ner riduur," He whispers in a strained tone and you merely continue to stare up at him with those wide eyes as his warm hands graze your bare shoulders and arms, his fingers lightly tracing your beloved armlet, “These stars could only ever hope to be as beautiful as you are,” He continues when you blush furiously from the charming compliment, “They could only wish to shine as brightly as you do.”
Tears form in your eyes and you don’t know why, but you suspect that the pure tenderness of his gravelly voice has something to do with it. You’re not sure what to say as he cradles your cheeks and gazes at you in a way that is somehow softer and sweeter than the compliments he had just showered you with, so you silently let him caress your warm cheeks for a few moments before his mouth is on yours again.
“Mesh’la,” He coos, saying it over and over as he kisses the corner of your mouth before his lips find purchase against your jaw instead.
You half expect him to remove the pieces of jewelry, but he merely skims his lips along the underside of your jawline in search of the spot that he had long ago discovered was sensitive. A needy whimper beckons him to sink his teeth into the delicate skin and you can feel his cock twitch against your belly as whimpers turn into heavy moans when he makes sure to leave a deep mark behind.
“You look like a fucking princess with that crown,” Din groans against the slope of your neck as he corrects himself, “No, you look like a queen and they all thought so too,” he informs you, leaving another crimson mark that would later turn into a bruise at the curve of your shoulder, “Bet all of those dirty men in that casino would have bowed at your feet just to get a taste of you, cyar’ika.”
You huff out a laugh at the jealousy tainting his usually cool and calm voice, though it quickly dies down and is replaced with a choked sob when he drops his head to nip the swell of your breast. Immediately, you drag a hand up between the defined valleys of his shoulder blades and up his nape; a shudder wracks your body when he brings a hard nipple between his teeth before soothing it with his tongue.
“Something tells me you wouldn’t have let that happen.”
“Would have fucked you in front of all them to get the point across,” his hands grip your hips so tightly that you’re sure they’ll bruise and the thought makes you warm and wet, “That casino was too disgusting for someone as beautiful as you to be in--too disgusting to fuck you in that pretty white dress.”
You grab his cheeks firmly, efficiently halting him from where he was currently grazing a constellation of freckles underneath your breast, and bring his scruffy face up until his parted lips are pressing against yours, his tongue licking into the hot tavern of your mouth. The kiss is nothing like the one you two shared earlier when you had taken off his helmet, instead, it’s now sloppy and dirty; it’s a silent promise that he’s going to wreck you in the most pleasurable way. 
Much to your amusement, Din pouts a little when you pull away from him before you playfully tease him by taking his earlobe between your teeth, causing his already rough grip on your hips to grow slightly painful. He learned long ago that you didn’t mind it, that even though everyone perceived you to be tiny and meek, you were anything but when it was the two of you behind closed doors.
“Yet you’ll have your way with me against the wall of this dirty ship,” You remind him, amused by the grunt he lets out as you tug his earlobe a little painfully.
He traces his hands down your hips and roughly grips the soft globes of your ass, pulling you flush against him until all you can feel is cold Beskar steel and a cock against your belly that feels just as unyielding.
It leaves you lightheaded.
“Tell me then, mesh’la,” He pins you until the middle of your back is pressed up against a long shelf bolted to the wall and your heart pulses with anticipation, “Where would you prefer me to fuck you on our ship?”
You mewl faintly when he grabs your sore hips again, effortlessly lifting you until you’re sitting on the long metal shelf bolted to the wall and he’s surprisingly cordial enough for once to not tear your shorts straight down the middle, instead helping you to shuffle them down your legs before unceremoniously launching them in the general direction of your discarded dress. Your breath hitches when he remains kneeling down where your feet are currently dangling in front of his face and he makes quick work to remove your strappy sandals, untying the thin leather straps from around your calves and letting it fall to your ankles. A single dimple appears on his scruffy cheek when he removes the sandals completely and watches as you lightly roll your ankles around now that they’re not restrained and being chafed by rough leather.
“You never answered my question, princess,” He places a tender kiss against the inside of your sore ankle and you think it’s the first time he’s ever called you that, but it makes you grow wetter and your cheeks burn like coals as your cunt flutters and clenches around nothing, “Where would you rather be right now? You don’t want to be pressed up against this wall with my face between your thighs--eating that pretty pussy?”
“I quite liked the--Din!” You whine and squirm when he roughly nips your lower thigh, just above the inside of your knee where he somehow discovered long ago was another sensitive spot, “I uh, the c-cockpit was kinda fun, yeah?”
He huffs out an amused sigh against your smooth skin and as he continues his tortuously delicious ascent, you don’t hesitate to wrap your thighs around his scruffy face when he gets dangerously close to the apex of your thigh, “Yeah, until you fell onto the control pad and almost blew up the damn ship.”
“That w-was--” A sharp bite at your lower hip is a warning, one that you choose to ignore in hopes he’ll punish you, “Your fault for making me ride you backwards.”
His mustache tickles and burns your skin as he moves his head until he’s just centimeters from your throbbing clit, “Thought you’d like to see the stars while you fuck yourself on my cock, princess.”
You open your mouth to backsass the stubborn Mandalorian, but all that comes out is a breathless sob as his mouth covers that little bundle of nerves that he seems so obsessed with every time he ends up with his head between your legs. When the two of you had first started becoming intimate, even before he had asked you to be his ridduur and you two had taken your vows, Din had always been so insistent on tasting you and could do it for hours on end if he had it his way. It must pertain to him wearing the helmet for so long and never having the opportunity to be selfish and take it off during sec, you briefly think before he licks a hot stripe up your slit and ultimately lands back on your clit.
You nearly lose all thought as your fingers thread through his curls, damp with sweat from donning his helmet all day, though you don’t care and hold on tightly to keep him in place, “P-Princess? I thought you said I looked like a queen.”
He removes his mouth and before you can whimper at the agonizing loss, you’re stretched around two of his thick fingers and you nearly concuss yourself when you throw your head against the wall behind you, feeling his lips curve into a smile against your belly button before his tongue grazes the tiny divot in your abdomen. You don’t know whether to moan or laugh--what with his fingers curling so deep inside of your slick heat, but his tongue teasing such a ticklish spot on your body--and the noise that comes out of you is an awkward whine of a chuckle. His shoulders shake under the back of your thighs and you know that smug asshole is laughing at you.
“You always look like a queen, mesh’la,” He’s still laughing breathlessly as he slips a third finger inside of your intense warmth, making you painfully arch your back at the delightful stretch of his thick digits, “Sometimes you act like a bratty princess though, especially when it’s just us.”
“Maybe I--” You think he’s ignoring you as he lowers his head and roughly grabs your hips, drawing you forward until you’re about to fall off the shelf before eagerly spreading your thighs wider to get a better look--a better taste--of you, “M-Maybe your attitude rubbed off on me.”
His unforgiving fingers dig into your thighs and you yelp at the punishing gesture, your own fingers curling tightly into his unruly curls when he licks so deep inside of you that it makes you lose your breath. The Mandalorian is good at punishing you in the most pleasurable way, coaxing you to the brink of your orgasm before pulling back and leaving you crying from desperation; it’s something that you simultaneously love and hate, though it’s mostly the former. You try desperately to wrap your thighs around his head, but the esteemed bounty hunter refuses to let you have it your way and tauntingly spreads your legs wider, earning him a loud whine and a painful tug at his hair.
“Din, please!” You cry out when he eases the pressure off of your clit and his fingers slow down, “Please, please--”
He barely lifts his head, but it’s enough to make a tear trickle down your cheek from the loss of his talented mouth, “What’s wrong, princess?” He chuckles when you clench around his fingers upon hearing the new pet name he’s bestowed upon you and you want to slap that smug, dimpled grin off of his stupid stubbly face, “Suddenly you decide to have manners? Is this all I had to do to get you to say please and thank you? Shove my fingers in your wet--”
“Just fuck me already,” You wail, eyes screwed shut as he curls his finger deep inside you and the muscles in your thighs tense as you desperately chase your release, “Please! I need to… I need you to…”
Your voice trails off with a needy cry when he huffs out an amused chuckle against your sensitive skin, “You’re gonna cum in my mouth and then you’re going to thank me for it, princess, aren’t you?”
“Y-Yes, I promise! Just--”
He cuts you off by burying his face against your pussy and you cry from relief when he lets you squeeze your thighs around his head, further muffling the mouthy Mandalorian and his sweet praises. The bounty hunter can be cruel sometimes, but you’ve learned that if you beg or cry hard enough, he’ll almost always give you what you want--what you need--and he always knows how to give it to you. Always eager to please, Din had learned pretty quickly where you liked to be kissed and licked, how hard to press his fingers or thumb to your clit, when you wanted to be fucked hard or when you wanted him to make love to you. Your riduur knew how to make you squirm just by saying sweet praises to you in that low, guttural voice and he knew how to bring you to the brink of pleasure with his mouth alone.
You don’t even realize you’ve closed your eyes until you hear--and feel--Din moaning against your cunt and you pry your eyelids open to gaze at your lover.
The sight of him leaves you wrecked and heaving, eyes landing on the thick and achingly hard cock he’s currently fisting in a tight grip, his own eyes closed in bliss. Something about him getting off to the pleasure he’s inflicting upon your trembling body has your cunt clamping down like a tight glove around his fingers and you curl forward to press your hands into his broad shoulders.
“Right there,” You let out a breathless sob when his fingers curl deeply inside of your slick heat, “F-Fuck, right there. Please don’t stop.”
His hand pumps his length faster and more erratically at the sound of the desperation in your voice, pre-cum leaking from the tip when you tighten your thighs around his head and your nails dig into his taut shoulders, leaving red scratches in their wake. Tears are threatening to fall down your cheeks from all the overwhelming sensations and emotions--from the way his own moans and whimpers grow desperate as he continues to taste and lap at your pussy like it’s a tall glass of water and he’s been trekking through a Tatooine desert for weeks on end.
“I’m gonna--”
“Fuck, d-do it, princess,” He finally opens his eyes, though they’re still half-lidded and filled with desire as he observes the way you’re unraveling beneath his mouth and hands. You lose yourself in him and the way he attentively coaxes you closer and closer to your sweet release, your hair standing up pin straight on the back of your neck as the muscles in your thighs grow unbelievably tense and sore, despite your lover being nowhere near done with you for the night. 
His thumb swirls the few beads of pre-cum over the head of his cock and down his length, his rich brown eyes never leaving yours, and you’re absolutely done for.
If you weren’t so wrapped up in the way you convulsed around his thick fingers or how sensitive your throbbing clit felt between his lips, you would have been more mindful of how tightly you squeezed your thighs around his head or how hard your nails dragged along his shoulders. You felt like such a greedy little thing as you focused on how good he was making you feel and how easy it was for him to make you cum in his mouth, seeming to care more about your needs than his own as he fervently stroked his hard cock.
“There you go, mesh’la,” He groans when your toes curl so tightly that cramps threaten to numb your feet and your head falls back against the steel wall, mouth agape as your body simultaneously grows numb and burns with absolute bliss. You’re not even aware of how you’re pathetically repeating his name like a desperate prayer--like you’re suffering and he’s the only one that can stop the pain.
You suppose he is the only one that can relieve the intense ache and he has no qualms in doing so, gladly guiding you through it all and offering you sweet praises as tense muscles eventually relax around his head and your hands move up his neck to gently stroke the curls there. Tears are shimmering in your eyes as he easily kisses his way up your stomach, earning a breathless whimper that sounds similar to a chuckle as he rubs his stubbly cheek against your belly button.
Your chest is still heaving when he carefully guides you off the sturdy shelf and you’re grateful for his strong arms as you nearly buckle under the weight of your shaking legs, already feeling sore as he lifts you until your thighs are wrapped around his hips instead. How he has the strength to hold you up after all of that, you have no idea, but you don’t complain when he gracefully carries you to the cot that you used to sleep on before you found yourself crawling into his private quarters more often than you should have.
As he gently lies you down on the uncomfortable surface of the stiff padding, you remember his words from earlier when you had been begging him to let you cum around his fingers--in his mouth.
Din covers your relaxed body with his much larger one and you’re quick to press your lips against his earlobe, making sure not to break your promise from earlier.
“Thank you, my riduur.”
He huffs out something reminiscent of a laugh against the curve of your neck, “Don’t know why you’re thanking me when I haven’t even begun.”
Ner kar’ta= My heart
Aliit ori'shya tal'din= Family is more than blood
Ner riduur= My partner, spouse, husband, wife
Cyar’ika= Darling, sweetheart
Mesh’la= Beautiful
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tartarusdwelt-a · 3 years
Note
five times kissed / tankswap meeeee 👉👈
five times kissed // accepting | @disaeric​ In which I completely forsake my regular formatting because this got TOO LONG.
i. you dare to goad the consequence, it devours you.                                                                                   ul’dah, the golden city.
THERE WAS A GIRL ON EITHER ARM — colour her unsurprised. They fluttered in like butterflies, like moths to a flame, and he burned so brightly. Pretty things with pastel dresses and bright eyes; in their whispers and drab flirtations she found herself watching, an alienation that bothered her only when she paused to consider it.
Not of a desire for him. No, no, that would be ludicrous. But that he should be desired and desire in turn — that his waking moments should be defined by the want that another person held for him. She did not know the sensation, nor the touch. A feral, mangy, disgusting thing; she was defined by the word of others, and held their assessments of her in cruel regard.
“aye, who should want you? fucking idiot girl, y’not worth the food I put into your mouth.”
“You know it’s rude to stare.” His tankard of ale clinks against the bar top, and she jumped at the sound. Amber eyes met golden brown, unabashedly unafraid at how she glared, and he grinned.
“I am trying to drink in peace,” she answered, her expression worsening at how he laughed, “Not watch you tongue fuck every available woman in the room —”
"Are you jealous, Koret?” She hated the arrogance in his voice, how it managed to burn colour to her cheeks without conscious thought. In a fool’s attempt, she brought her ale to her lips and hoped it would hide her expression; only to near choke on his next words. “I could kiss you if you want.”
There was a pause. She lowered her drink, smoothed her fingers against the lacquered wood, and turned to look at him only when she was sure she wasn’t pink. “I could think of nothing worse.”
“You wound me,” he answered, though she knew her words inflicted no injury. If anything they were an invitation; a test to see if her bark had any bite. Foolish; he should have known a creature raised on harm would fall to a gentle hand. They found stiffness, but not resistance, and the red of her hair tumbled like blood over his fingers as he drew a soft ascent from her jaw to her cheekbone. He held her — tender, despite his previous teasing — and when he brought his lips to meet hers they were not intense, but gentle. Nothing like she’d seen when he’d kissed the others. She told herself that was what made it worse.
A hand on his collarbone. Her fingers in divot. She pushed him back, incredulous at her own weakness, and embarrassed she let herself entertain the notion. “Stop, go kiss the tavern girls!” she snarled, the back of her palm pressing to the skin of her bottom lip.
He was radiant. She wanted to kiss him again.
ii. there is a poltergeist in your veins, it wants to watch you burn.                                                                                            the castrum, alight.
TWISTED, METALIC ASH FELL LIKE SNOW against her hair, blistering exposed skin as Garlean engineering groaned and melted in the fires wrought by great Ultima. The pain, however, was secondary. There was an animal in place of a girl; an instinct; a desperate claw for life as the inferno wreathed its way down the narrow passage and the cool night air felt distant as oxygen was sucked from the tunnel. Yet even still she carried on; one hand on his back, the other on the control stick, and it was all she could do to push the magitek forward out of that forsaken place.
Thancred — how stupid she was to miss the signs. Lifeless, his body draped over Maggie as they ran, and unlike her as she coughed and spluttered he uttered not a peep. That fact was more frightening than the fire; greater than the ascian she tore from his body: the truth that she had missed the signs, and it might cost him entirely.
Her scream ripped through the air as they burst free, fire spewing behind them like dragon’s breath, and a sudden turn sent them both tumbling from Maggie’s back. Kor landed hard on the wet earth, tasting blood in her mouth and feeling the gashes in her bottom lip. She struggled to push herself up, to drag her body to his even when she could see the blurred vision of her companions and hear them yell at her that she was safe.
“No, he —” Her throat was burning, her voice cracked and horse. He had not moved from the place that he had fallen, splayed a marionette flung by a ruthless child. She reached for him with muddied hands, smearing dirt across his face, and pressed her forehead against his.
Please do not be dead. Please do not be dead. I cannot bear to lose anyone else. Please don’t be dead.
The tickle of breath against her hair. Shallow, barely there, but he was alive. A gasp of relief — a laugh. Without even thinking she leaned up and kissed his forehead, caring not for the bloodstain that remained.
iii. ours are the bodies of graveyards, our hearts a mausoleum.                                                                                            dravania, in grief.
THE SUN. She was the sun. Her gentle light a comfort; her warmth a welcomed friend. How deep the shadows ran when she departed — how cold was the world was in her absence. It reflected in her guardian. It cheated the mirth from behind his eyes and stole the revelry from his teeth. He stared ahead with catatonic dullness, his thoughts a tempest of what if’s and if only, and the dark circles and weighted shoulders were an unintended weakness to the reality of his grief.
Which was worse — the mirror or the reflection? That she should stare into a reality she knew all too well, or that she had once projected it? Grief was intruder who slipped past her doors and made a home at her table; he had stolen her innocence and took more than a pound of flesh. It defined her, the loss of her sister. She could only imagine how Minfilia’s would define him.
Without much thought she came to sit beside him, not minding that he didn’t pause to look. The fire, as it crackled and twirled on charred logs, was a good enough distraction — she was familiar with the disassociation. To speak was to admit. To act was to give in. There was violence in the vulnerability. She knew, she knew.
Her head lay gently against his shoulder, feeling it a pitiful comfort. Yet he reached for her all the same, his hand resting on the top of her head, and they sat in the quiet for a time.
“Thancred.” When she spoke her voice was quiet, thick with an emotion she didn’t fully understand, and when she finally looked up at him she wasn’t even sure what she should say. I’m sorry. I know. It never gets easier. I wanted to die, too. It will live in you — poison you.
Instead, with lips slightly parted and the flutter of her hand against the back of his neck, she leaned in to kiss him. A foolish distraction, one she full expected him to reject, but he did not. His lips moved against hers, his tongue a delving dance, and as he twisted himself to meet her the hand that pressed itself to the small of her back cradled her as he gently lowered her to the grass.
iv. they play requiems in your honour; it is an insult.                                                                                the rising stones, alone.
SHE HATED THE FLOWERS PLACED BY HIS BED. Dead — he wasn’t fucking dead — but it was as if they had left him to die. Their scent was a mockery; their withering blooms a reminder of the time that ticked idly by while he lay unmoving beneath the oil lanterns of the Scion’s headquarters. Though he breathed he did not wake, and the smooth lines on his face did little to soothe her knowing his last expression was of agony.
Gone. He was gone. Dead, but not gone. How was she supposed to rationalise that? If he were dead at least there would be a funeral, but the flowers that wreathed him shed petals in the coffin of his bed. It was absurd. She picked one from his cheek and let it flutter to the floor.
“Come back to me,” she pleaded. But like every time her voice did not reach, nor did her actions have any effect. She took his hand, curled his fingers around her own, and pressed them to her mouth. “I love you. Please, please come back.”
He was silent. 
She did not expect anything less. 
Choking back her own despair, she willed herself the gentleness to lower his hand before the anger exploded.
The vase shattered into a thousand pieces against the wall. Wet hands pressed themselves to her cheekbones, hoping the pain would stop her grief, but it ripped itself from her lungs all the same. 
She fell to her knees.
v. golden, she burns like atoms. you cannot protect her.                                                                                     the first, sacrosanct.
AH, SO THIS IS HOW SHE WOULD DIE. Not by her own hand, but the light. In holy radiance she would be purified from the inside out. Incinerating her, she would become beautiful and clean.
It burned. Gods, it burned.
She didn’t realise she was screaming until his hands were steady on her shoulders, uttering soothing placations she knew neither of them believed. Five years on his side had changed the man she knew, but even in the depths of his weariness the familiarity remained. He was a fixture; her fingers wrapped around his arms an anchor; and even as she choked and vomited the burning light he did not peel himself from her side.
“It hurts, it hurts.” Kor didn’t mean to sound so vulnerable — so small. She was the Warrior of Darkness, she could not show weakness. But it poured from her like a fount and dripped off her skin like holy water, and as she cried he kissed her head and kept her steady in her fight.
“I’ve got you,” he assured, even know she knew neither of them believed it. Even if it wasn’t enough. “You’re going to be okay. I’ve got you.”
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livelivefastfree · 4 years
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have you been working on any new fics?? (your stories are wonderful, ive drowned myself in polyburners thanks to you 😔 its a good place to be)
Not really anything new, although I’ve been picking away at some older ones that I never finished!  Namely the plot-heavy sequel to my telepathic soul-bond superhero AU, the intimidatingly complicated sequel to Save A Horse, Ride A Dragon, and my Burnerswap AU where the villains are all our new Burners and the Burners are villains.
Unfortunately since I’m a nurse work has been kind of stressful recently and also my brain only likes to focus on one thing at a time which is currently original novel things.  So process is pretty slow, haha.  But I’m glad I could bring more people into the polyburners fold!
I do feel bad that I haven’t had the energy to post much for a while; revamping my burnerswap doc is the most recent thing I’ve gotten work done on, so here’s a little bit of scene-setting!
Deluxe is a mass of spires and platforms, shimmering in the sunshine outside Red’s window.  Red stares up at the ceiling, at the pale golden glow of sunlight on the pale polymer.  He can hear the sound of someone loudly imitating an electric guitar, and faint thumps and thuds through the wall; Duke is taking his traditional lengthy shower and using up all their precious hot water.  From the smells drifting up from downstairs, Jacob is already up and in the kitchen experimenting.  Kaia is probably upstairs on the roof, tending to her plants, and Abraham had to go back down to the undercity last night.  His absence is a hole; no sound of him talking to Jacob in the kitchen, working out irritatingly on Red’s balcony, yelling at Duke for using up the water.  There’s always something slightly off, a little bit wrong, when part of their team is missing.
Red sits up, buckles his patch on over the remnant of his left eye, and pushes himself up out of bed to see what’s for breakfast.
Jacob is stirring something in a pan when he Red arrives.  There’s a heaping basket of miscellaneous vegetables on the counter next to him, so probably Red’s in for some kind of veggie abomination this morning—but it’s a veggie abomination Red doesn’t have to make and then burn, and he doesn’t really have a sense of taste anymore, anyway.  Red drops into a chair, and Jacob piles up a plate of fried vegetables and sets it wordlessly down in front of him.
It’s quiet for a while. Red eats as much as he can manage, and Jacob knows him well enough not to frown when Red has to push the plate away half-eaten.  
“Quiet night?” he says, eventually.
“All quiet in the pit,” Red says, and goes to the cooler to fish out a nutrient shake instead.  “No calls from Abraham.  No alerts, no bots, no Dragon.”
“Mm.”  Jacob shakes his head, making an unconvinced grumbling noise.  “They’ll come.  They always do.”
Red can’t argue that. He stayed on the edge of the platform until the small hours of the morning, looking down into the dark city far below, watching every gleam of light and flicker of movement, waiting for the first flash of red glass eyes or matte metal claws.
The others drift downstairs eventually, one at a time; Duke grimaces at the vegetable mess, but Kaia piles in with every sign of enjoyment.  Red sits back and listens to Jacob and Duke bicker, Kaia’s laughing jabs at both of them indiscriminately, and lets the sunlight soften some of the harsh, nauseated fatigue.
He doesn’t realize he’s beginning to drift off, but when his comms light up red with an urgent chime, it startles him badly enough he almost drops his drink.
“Come in,” Abraham’s voice says, flat and low.  “Red.”
“Copy,” says Red, and pushes himself up, already moving. The rest of his team reorders around him, Jacob heading for the garage, Duke and Kaia immediately running for their rooms, their weapons.  Red picks up his gloves, feeling the circuitry inside thrum hotly against his palms. “Incoming?”
“How did you guess,” says Abraham dryly.  “Three Climbers.  Two on North Side, one coming up from the East.  And she’s sending up the Dragon.”
Red falters in mid-step, then growls and heads down the staircase to the garage, taking the steps two at a time. “Can you make it up?”
“I can try,” Abraham says, but Red knows that tone to his voice, rough and grim.  “I think she’s targeting the medical complex on platform 18.  Don’t get distracted.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Red says, and Abraham gives a brief bark of a laugh and then cuts the call.
--
Deluxe looks beautiful in the sunlight, if beauty is something to pay attention to; Red has seen it a thousand times, growing up from the old undercity of Detroit like an indescribably huge tree made of silver and marble.  The platforms that make up the city itself look almost fragile from a distance, hovertech and superlight polymers, gleaming with solar panels and greenery.  The massive support structure that holds the city up grows dirtier and more patchwork as it descends into the bristling thicket of ancient, blocky concrete buildings.
Whole civilizations have made their homes on the platforms along that winding trunk.  Around its base, built onto the rooftops of old skyscrapers, Red can see the distant gleam of the Casino King’s sprawling compound, gaudy with red and gold floodlights.  There are urban legends about an entire lost city, one that made its living in among the building-sized struts and cables themselves, before some unspecified calamity cut all communication with them short.
Some of the midway settlements are against Kane, some of them are only indifferent, but Red can only assume that trying to bargain her way through was too much trouble.  Kane took matters into her own hands, and had her R&D invent the Climbers.
Red has eyes on one of them now; a long, low shape, slinking across the platform.  Six-legged, with four glowing eyes each, moving with an unnerving, artificial grace—the mechanical nightmare-offspring of a wolf and some kind of insect.  The tips of their claws hum faintly, lit up—plasma-cutter edges, sharp enough to sink into the polymer like hot knives through butter.  Red is a platform above them, out of their field of vision, but he’s seen the way the things scale vertical surfaces, faster than anything that size should be able to move.
As Red watches, one of them opens its mouth, showing hundreds of needle-sharp fangs lit hellish red from the inside, and lets out an awful, scraping snarl.
“I’ve got eyes on one,” Red says, keeping his voice low.  
“Yeah, yeah, we see ‘em over here too,” Duke says, tight and sharp with bravado.  “Easy.  Let’s get it done!”
“I’ve got your back,” Kaia says.  “Let’s show these things what—”
“Hey, Red,” says a voice, and something taps Red on the shoulder.  “Tag.”
The moment of shock is enough to freeze Red in place for a single fraction of a second, and that’s a hesitation he can’t afford.  A blunt edge slams into his ribs, knocks him over off his feet; he rolls, comes up on his feet again and sends out a blind shockwave of energy—throws himself to one side as a staff sweeps past where his ankles were, and this time when he lashes out he feels the impact strike true.
The Dragon of Detroit takes the hit and lets it bowl him backwards, turns the motion into a back-handspring and comes to a skidding halt, shaking overgrown brown bangs out of his dark eyes.  He’s laughing, smiling as wide and wild as he always does; the deep scar that stretches crookedly from his cheekbone to his chin twists his smile into something just slightly crooked and bitter, but his laugh sounds irritatingly, insultingly genuine.
“Chilton,” Red snarls, and the man spins his staff behind his back and sweeps a bow, grinning.  
“I’m guessing you’re not interested in doing this the easy way, kid,” he says, and Red clenches his fists, lightning crawling up his arms.  “Yeah, I didn’t figure.  Can’t say I didn’t try.”
“The fuck I can’t,” Red snaps, and Chilton huffs out a breath and shakes his head, ever-present smile never fading.  “If you really cared about not hurting anybody you wouldn’t be working for that—”
It’s the flicker of Chilton’s eyes that gives it away, and the faintest sound of scraping metal; Red dives to one side on instinct, just in time to avoid the snap of jagged metal jaws and six sets of wickedly-clawed feet.  He comes up swinging, lands a few solid hits; the Climber shrieks as one of its legs spasms and cracks, red lightning and dented metal grinding in one of its back legs.
“Backup!” Red snaps into his comm, and then there’s only the fight.
He’s being distracted, he knows it even while it’s happening, but he can’t break his focus away long enough to care.  Chilton is gone, he has to be raiding that medical compound, and Red is stuck here, fighting some stupid robot—
“Heads up!” yells a voice, and Red glances up and then back-pedals abruptly as a huge, blocky shape comes rocketing off the next platform up and drops like a comet onto the Climber’s head.  The back half of the bot gives a meaty crunch as Jacob’s construction rig lifts back off of it, leaking nasty, thick, black fluid as it tries to drag itself forward on its two remaining legs; Red steps forward, grimacing in distaste, tears a dented plate away and buries his hand in the things neck to deliver one final, merciless jolt.  The Climber whirrs, gives a gurgling growl, and finally goes still.
“Jumpin’ Josephat,” says Jacob, from inside the clunky, ugly cube he calls a hovercar.  “You still in one piece down there?”
“Where’s Chilton?!” Red says, and then jerks and looks up at the sound of a laugh, echoing off the white walls and walkways around them.  
The Dragon is standing at the very edge of the platform, silhouetted against the sky; he makes eye contact with Red, brief and grinning, one hand on the side of a stolen transport pod. Then he throws off a brief, mocking salute, and launches himself backwards off the edge of the platform into thin air, vanishing over the edge.
“Criminy,” says Jacob weakly, because Jacob is an 80-year-old man in a 20-year-old body.  
“Fuck,” Red hisses, and slams a fist down on the ground, leaving lightning-jagged scorch marks across the white polymer.  Takes a few breaths and repeats, “…fuck,” soft and hoarse, poisonous in his mouth.
“Yeah,” says Jacob, and his boots thump softly as he slides down, his hand settles carefully on Red’s shoulder.  “C’mon. Let’s get back to the others.”
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